Five Questions with Mike McCoy, the Line Tech Who Bought His Own Airplane
A 31-year-old FBO line tech earned his private certificate and bought his own airplane, debunking the myth that flying is only for the wealthy.
A 31-year-old FBO line technician named Mike McCoy earned his private pilot certificate and bought his own airplane on line wages - some of the lowest-paid work on the airport. Profiled this week in AOPA’s “Five Questions” series, McCoy is direct evidence that aircraft ownership is not reserved for the wealthy. His path shows that a job on the field, discounted training, and an affordable older airplane can open the door that cost seems to close.
Who Is Mike McCoy?
Mike McCoy is a 31-year-old private pilot from Mentor, Ohio. He is not a surgeon or a tech executive. He works as a line technician at a fixed base operator (FBO) - the person in the reflective vest who marshals aircraft into parking, chocks the wheels, and tops off the tanks with Jet A and 100LL.
Line work is some of the hardest, most weather-exposed, and lowest-paid work on any airfield. Yet on those wages, McCoy put himself through primary flight training, earned his private pilot certificate, and became an aircraft owner before turning 32.
AOPA led its profile with a specific reason: there’s a stubborn belief that aircraft ownership is only for the affluent, and that an FBO line wage can no longer fund flight training. McCoy is a living argument against both ideas.
Can You Afford to Fly on a Low Wage?
The affluence myth misses what a job on the field actually provides. A line worker isn’t just earning a paycheck - they’re earning proximity to the airport. In aviation, that proximity is worth more than most people ever calculate.
Working the line puts you around airplanes, pilots, and mechanics every single day. You learn the machines by touching them and learn weather by standing in it. Just as important, many FBOs and flight schools offer their employees discounted instruction and aircraft access - instructors who know you by name and want to see you succeed.
None of this means the path is easy. Line work means January mornings on an icy ramp with a 20-knot wind biting through your coveralls, and July afternoons hot enough to burn your hand on an airplane’s skin. Nobody works the line for the money. But that job trades hardship for opportunity in a way a desk job never can.
What Does It Actually Cost to Own an Airplane?
The entry point to ownership is not a new composite single with a glass panel and a price tag that looks like a house. It’s a decades-old two-seat trainer - a Cessna 150, a Piper Cherokee older than the pilot flying it - bought for the price of a used pickup truck.
Owners at this level often split the cost with one or two partners and keep the airplane flying by learning to turn a wrench alongside a trusted mechanic. Ownership at that level isn’t a luxury purchase. It’s a decision to spend your money on flying instead of on something else.
AOPA’s piece is a short profile - five questions, not a full financial breakdown - so the specific details of McCoy’s airplane aren’t published. But the headline fact stands on its own: line wages, a private certificate, and an airplane in the hangar.
Why This Matters for Pilots and the Industry
The aviation community talks constantly about the pilot shortage - airlines needing bodies, a stretched training pipeline, the flow of regional first officers to the majors. Most of that conversation focuses on the top of the ladder.
But the bottom rung is where people either get on or they don’t, and the bottom rung is money: flight instruction, aircraft rental, the medical, checkride fees, the headset. That first rung is where the industry loses people who would have been good pilots, simply because the wall of cost looked solid, with no door in it.
Stories like McCoy’s are a quiet public service. They don’t pretend the cost isn’t real - it is. But they show one concrete door through the wall: get a job on the field, trade proximity for opportunity, buy the old airplane instead of the new one, and fly it.
What Should You Do Next?
If you’re on the outside looking in, here’s a practical move: call your local FBO. Ask if they’re hiring line staff, and ask specifically whether employees get any break on flight training or aircraft access. A surprising number do, and they don’t always advertise it. That single phone call has launched more flying careers than many scholarship programs.
If you’re already a pilot or an owner, do the other side of the work. Mentor the line worker at your field. Offer the right seat. Answer questions honestly - without either sugarcoating the cost or slamming the door. Somebody did that for Mike McCoy. Pass it on.
Aviation has an access problem, and access problems get solved one pilot at a time. This week, AOPA put a name and a face on one of the solutions. The full profile, in McCoy’s own words, appears in AOPA’s “Five Questions” series.
Key Takeaways
- Mike McCoy, a 31-year-old FBO line technician from Mentor, Ohio, earned his private certificate and bought his own airplane on line wages before age 32.
- Working on the airport earns you proximity - daily exposure to aviation plus frequently discounted training and aircraft access through your employer.
- Aircraft ownership starts with an old two-seat trainer like a Cessna 150 or Piper Cherokee, often split among partners - not a new glass-panel single.
- The first rung of flight training is where cost turns people away, making real-world success stories a genuine public service.
- Actionable step: Call your local FBO, ask about line jobs, and ask directly whether employees receive training or aircraft discounts.
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