Air Feeback

After eight years with the Montana Department of Transportation, Lincoln native Hayes Feeback is moving on to pursue a lifelong dream.

"This summer I...did a check ride for my private pilot's license," Feeback told the BVD. "I've always been intrigued by the flying part of it and my grandfather was a pilot, so my whole life I was always told about being a pilot. I decided this summer that I was going to try it out. I went up and did my first check ride in Helena and fell in love with it and decided that that's what I want to do for the rest of my life."

Now finishing up his private pilot's license, Feeback has fast-tracked plans to pursue a career as a commercial pilot. He resigned from the DOT in late November to pursue his goal full-time.

A lifelong Lincoln resident and 2006 graduate of Lincoln High School, Feeback first hired on with the DOT in 2011 and served as Section Supervisor for the last six years, prior to his resignation.

The Lincoln section consists of three full-time employees and one seasonal employee and is responsible for about 134 lane miles of highway, from the Nevada Ogden Dam on Highway 141 to Highway 271 up to Cottonwood Creek, and Highway 200 from Kleinschmidt Flats over Flesher Pass to Stemple Pass.

"The job entails maintaining the highways, anywhere from fixing guard rails to potholes, overlays, wreck fills and...winter maintenance, plowing and sanding," said Feeback. Lincoln local Shawn Dailey has stepped into the role of Section Supervisor.

Feeback hopes to attend Airline Transport Pilot Flight School in Everett, Washington in February.

"I am currently working on finishing up my private pilot's license, and once I am done with that I am looking at going to ATP flight school," he said. "I am hoping that I can get enrolled in that school by February eighteenth."

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, ATP Flight School focuses on professional flight training and has programs throughout the nation. They are the leading supplier of regional airline pilots in the U.S.

Once enrolled, Feeback will complete the six-month program in Washington while commuting when possible to see his family, who will remain in Lincoln.

After finishing the program, he plans to work as a Certified Flight Instructor to log the 1500 flight hours necessary to apply for most commercial pilot jobs.

"It was definitely one of those goals that I wanted to do, and I went and did it and fell in love with it and decided that's where I needed to go," Feeback said of becoming a pilot. "It's just one of those things – I get up in the sky and I absolutely love it. It's just something that flipped my trigger, I guess."