Growing up on a North Carolina farm in the crossroads community of Carbonton, Adam Boyd watched in wide-eyed wonder as aircraft from nearby Pope Air Force Base, Fort Bragg, and Raleigh-Durham International Airport soared overhead, leaving behind their white contrails like a signature against a Carolina blue sky.
From then on, he was smitten with aviation.
In August, the General Aviation Awards will recognize Boyd, who retired from CAP as a lieutenant colonel two years ago after 20 years of service, as its National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year. The award, one of the organization’s top honors, is set to presented at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Wisconsin.
“My reaction was surprise,” Boyd said when asked about the award. “I honestly only thought I’d win the local one. I had no idea it would go that far.
“It’s pretty exciting, but very humbling at the same time.”
Growing up, he recalled. “I lived under one of the low-level routes for the C-130s flying out of Pope,” he said. “Helicopters would fly by my house all the time. C-130s would fly over in large formations all the time. It was neat. There were airplanes flying over my house every day, all day long.
“I grew up watching those planes and wanted to do that. I thought it’d be fun.”
Boyd joined CAP in October 2002 as a student at what was then the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where he also participated in Air Force ROTC. He joined the Air Force in 2005.
“I got my pilot’s license when I was young, so I needed a way to continue something in aviation while I was going through college and officer training,” he said.
He served for four years as a navigator and then became a C-130 pilot. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, logging some 3,000 hours in the C-130 with 600 hours of combat airtime in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and also flying for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.
After retiring from ab the Air Force in April 2020, he joined the Arkansas Air National Guard and still serves in an active-duty role.
“The only thing that changed is what my patch says,” he said.
In Civil Air Patrol, he served as commander of an overseas cadet squadron in Tokyo and as director of operations as well as inspector general for the Arkansas Wing. He also flew as a CAP mission check pilot and cadet orientation pilot.
Now the president of Wildwood Aerospace in Cabot, Arkansas, Boyd holds a number of Federal Aviation Administration certifications, including commercial airline pilot, airline transport pilot, airplane multiengine pilot, and single-engine land and sea pilot. He’s also a remote pilot, an advanced and instrument-rated ground instructor, and an aircraft dispatcher.
His other volunteer work includes flying patients to the medical care they need through Angel Flight Soars and Angel Flight South Central.
Boyd became a flight instructor simply because he “likes flying with other people and sharing in the (general aviation) community,” he said. “The easiest way to do that is to volunteer with Civil Air Patrol like I used to and be a flight instructor, to fly to breakfast and stuff, just being engaged in the general aviation community.”
He paid homage to the flight instructors who taught him — then a high school kid with no aviation background — how to fly.
“They really took me under their wing, and they helped me learn how to be a pilot,” Boyd said. “But more important, they showed me the business of aviation and the general aviation community.
“I’ve always wanted to make sure I gave back to the community that helped me.”
He learned how to teach, he said, in the Air Force. What makes an effective instructor?
“The most important thing that I implement when I’m instructing is having a lesson plan up-front, briefing what you’re going to do and answer any questions on the ground before you get into the airplane,” Boyd said.
And the work isn’t done when the lesson ends.
“When you come back, don’t just high-five at the end of the flight and walk off,” he said. “Sit down and have a debrief about what you just did, so you can think about it at ground speed zero again and really dig into how you can improve. The things you did great, the things you didn’t do so great, that kind of thing.”
Former students give Boyd rave reviews.
First Lt. Rowan Goble of the Yokota Cadet Squadron in Japan praised Boyd, both as a leader and a flight instructor.
“You’ve got to have ground instruction up-front and then ground instruction on the back end of a flight.”
“He is a patient and thorough instructor,” Goble said. “He is calm and confident inside of a flight deck, demonstrating maneuvers with clear instruction and a willingness to answer questions.”
Boyd’s love of flying and teaching others to fly is obvious.
“Being one of his students is a great experience,” Goble said.
Capt. Jake Kadish, the Yokota squadron’s operations officer, called Boyd “a leader worth following” for cadets and adult members.
“As a pilot and instructor, Adam leaned on his experience as a C-130 instructor to raise the bar for quality instruction in CAP aircraft,” Kadish said.
“He showed attention to detail, safety in all aspects, and a friendly approachable manner, which made him a popular instructor with which to train.”
Though retired from CAP, Boyd had nothing but praise for the Air Force auxiliary.
“I encourage people to join Civil Air Patrol if they have an interest in it,” he said. “It’s a great program for young people and a great program for young pilots to learn how to fly professionally.”_____Paul SouthContributing Writer
Former Civil Air Patrol Lt. Col. Adam Boyd will speak on “Plan Your Flight, Fly Your Plan” at 8 p.m. Eastern Time April 30 during the annual “GAALive!” broadcast. The program can be accessed online.
