Wings and waves

Through surfing, flying, sightseeing and food trips with his family, and more, his social media videos are dedicated to introducing new people to the possibilities of general aviation.

One of his videos features putting his surfboard in a Cessna 172 at Hemet-Ryan Airport (HMT), with snippets of the view and screenshots of weather reports and flight plan on the way to Oceanside Airport (OKB), as he explains what goes into the day trip. Clips of hopping on a bicycle provided free for pilots—or the one-wheel electric skateboard he brought along in his airplane—for a quick ride to the beach and a few hours of surfing would make anyone want to try the same.

For Santos, this dream was a long time coming. Originally from Brazil, he first came to the United States for a year-long student exchange program, but when he received a sports scholarship, he ended up staying. Years later in California, he met Alex Coats, owner of The Flight School of Southern California at Hemet-Ryan Airport and decided to take the leap to pursue his dream.

“I pretty much dropped everything,” Santos says. “Bought a simulator, bought online courses, and so on, to try to kind of teach myself and get my feet wet. I’d never even been in a GA airplane until I came to America. So, I knew absolutely nothing.” When a friend introduced him to AOPA, he immediately dove into all the educational, legal, and medical instruction available.

“I use AOPA for just about everything throughout my journey,” he says. “I don’t think people realize how many resources AOPA has. There’s educational stuff where you can just find anything, or they will point you in the right direction, whatever it is in aviation.”

After earning his private pilot certificate in March 2024, he moved rapidly through his advanced training, doing all the flying he could while starting an Instagram account (@joao.orjay). Early on, the videos were a way to introduce his friends and family to GA, and soon he discovered he had a passion for sharing GA by introducing local airports and their attractions, featuring day trips with his family and the airplane, with educational details of what goes into them. Whether skiing or snowboarding, beach trips, or visiting restaurants, it’s fun with bite-size information.

“I don’t get too technical, most of my friends don’t know much about aviation,” he says. “So, I can’t just sit there and start talking about IFR and charts and this and that. So, I try to simplify, that way it’s a perfect introduction for people that, like I was a couple years ago, knew nothing about aviation.”

Now, as co-owner of the flight school and its aircraft with Coats, he is pursuing his flight instructor certificate and running the management aspect of the school while Coats flies for CalFire during the summer. He’s eager to start instructing at the same place his own journey started, giving back to the next generation of young people, and thinks about also flying for CalFire someday.

“Right now, I’m just riding the wave,” he says.

Emma Quedzuweit is a former assistant editor for AOPA media.