What is Ulster BOCES?
Brian Wolf

Ulster BOCES means different things to different people.

To Brian Wolf, a former Aviation student, Ulster BOCES means having his childhood dream come true. While still in high school, Brian earned his private pilot’s license. Currently, he is attending Dutchess Community College (DCC) working toward entering Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with the hopes of one day becoming a pilot for a commercial or corporate airline.

Ever since he was a young boy, Brian, who lives just five miles off the end of an airport runway, has gazed up toward the blue skies with dreams of soaring through the clouds in the cockpit of an airplane. “I used to watch the planes fly overhead. My neighbor, who had a seaplane, would go down the Esopus in 30 seconds!”

So it was no surprise to his family that by age 10, Brian knew exactly what it was that he wanted to be when he grew up—a pilot. Two years later, Brian began to live his dream when his uncle gave him the best Christmas present he could ever have asked for—his first introductory plane flight. Once he was in the cockpit and venturing out into the wild blue yonder, there was no turning back. “Since that first ride, I haven’t stopped flying!”

At age 13, Brian began volunteer work at River Aviation, Inc., located at the Kingston-Ulster Airport. At 16, he was hired as a lineman, a job he still holds, where he tends to the fields and airplanes, does customer service, and occasional airport management.

One day, when he was a sophomore at Kingston High School (KHS), administration handed out Ulster BOCES program informational sheets that listed all BOCES course offerings. “I already knew I wanted to go into the Aviation program because from working at River Aviation, I had heard a lot of good things about it. Todd Clark recommended it, and my friend Jimmy Segreti, who was in Saugerties High School and already in the program, gave me the ‘heads-up’ on the class.”

Eager to begin, Brian obtained the class book and began reading it over the summer, giving him a jumpstart on his Aviation academics. In the fall, he began attending Ulster BOCES, where he excelled in the program of his dreams. During his senior year, Brian, a high honors student, clocked in over 100 air miles a day, 70 to 80 hours of solo flight time, read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe, constructed model airplanes, used a drill press, and learned how to cut sheet metal and how to paint it. “If you’re going to work with, or even fly, an airplane, it’s good to know how these things are done. You should know more than what the textbook tells you. In addition to flying, we learned these things from our instructor, Dan Courtney.”

Brian found Mr. Courtney to be very knowledgeable. “He has been flying over 50 years, was a member of the United States Army Aviation, and later was a flight engineer and pilot for Northeastern Airlines. He has a lot of experience and he really kept us all motivated.”

On August 18, 2005, just two days after his 17th birthday, Brian earned his private pilot’s license and became Instrument Flight Rated.

In addition to attending classes at KHS and Ulster BOCES Career & Technical Center, Brian also took early admissions courses at DCC. After graduating high school in June 2006, Brian enrolled in summer classes at DCC and began his freshmen year there with an impressive 17 credits already under his belt.

“Aviation Science at Dutchess is a nice program to go into after Ulster BOCES,” comments Brian. “The Aviation class at Ulster BOCES really prepares you well. There, we practiced doing many oral presentations, which you have to do in most four-year colleges. It’s nice too, because through the Ulster BOCES program, I earned three transferable credits and I was able to get a good headstart on college. Plus, I was able to obtain my private pilot’s license and save approximately $7,000 in fees.”

Brian is the first in his family to become a pilot, and it’s become a family affair. “My 13-year-old brother loves going with me. He keeps me company. My father doesn’t fly, but he believes I should go after my dream. He’s been very supportive. My dad is always there, checking up on me, and calls me up and asks, ‘Is the weather okay?’ He always wants to know where I’m going…my mom, too. She has gone flying with me. For her birthday, I flew her down to Cherry Ridge, Pennsylvania. We left at 9 AM, got breakfast, and were back in Kingston by 11 AM! Some of my friends fly with me, too.”

Brian has been to approximately 40 airports in the Northeast, including Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

Brian is very appreciative of the encouragement he receives from his family. They are so proud of him that this past summer, the Wolf family welcomed a new addition to the family—a 1969 Piper Cherokee 140B airplane, which Brian has been proudly flying ever since.

Brian’s favorite view from in the cockpit is watching the sun set. “It’s really nice when the sun goes down. There are a lot of colors, more reds. It’s pretty cool when you can actually watch the sun disappear below the mountains and it becomes pitch black out. It’s a whole different perspective from being on the ground.”

Reflects Brian, “A few months ago, I was flying over the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge and while I was coming in for a landing, I looked down and saw a guy looking up at me and thought to myself, ‘What would people think if they knew I was only 17, and I was landing this airplane over them?’”

As far as immediate plans, Brian hopes to become a flight instructor at River Aviation by the end of the year. He also wants to teach his brother how to fly.

“Ulster BOCES really helps prepare you for college and a career. It’s a great stepping stone,” notes Brian. “Everybody tells me that even if I were to stop now, I have already accomplished what I wanted to. I went from being just a little tyke on the ground who was looking up at the guy in the plane, to becoming that guy flying the plane looking down at the little tyke. That’s pretty cool.”