• Airline Transport Pilot with "Type Ratings" in CE560 and HS-125
• Flight Engineer-Turbo-Jet
• Flight Instructor: Single Engine, Multi-Engine, Instrument
• Mechanic: Airframe and Powerplant

• Former Airline Pilot Boeing 727
• Boeing 727 Flight Engineer Check Airman
• Former Kansas City Center Air Traffic Controller (PATCO)

• 25,000+ Hours
• 40 years in aviation
• Soloed in 1969
• Served in U.S. Air Force as Crew Chief KC-135 and Flight Engineer C-130
• 25+ years Corporate flying
• Owner---ATD Flight Systems LLC

At the ripe age of fifteen, Bill Hays took a job pumping gas at his Father’s gas station located right next to the Fairfax airport. Back in those days, (and we must think way, way back to pre-geriatric Bill days), gas stations were full service, meaning Bill was required to pump gas, check oil, clean windows, check tire pressure, etc. After a few weeks of being mesmerized by planes taking off and landing, Bill purchased a radio to pick up on the control tower’s radio frequency. One day, a customer drove in for a routine fill up. While Bill was servicing the customer’s car, the man went inside the station to wait. After hearing the air traffic controllers through the radio, the man inquired about the radio’s owner. Bill’s father explained that the obnoxious radio belonged to his son, Bill, who had just finished up on the man’s car and was now entering the station. “Are you a pilot?” the man asked. “No,” Bill replied. “I’ve actually never been in an airplane.” The man then asked for the father’s permission to take Bill on his first airplane ride and with that ride, Bill was hooked; he was signed up for lessons the next week. A couple of years later, Bill left for Vietnam where he served as a crew chief on a KC-135. After Vietnam, he was stationed at Ft. Worth and finished his ratings to become a CFI at a nearby flight school. He then moved back to Kansas City, where he got his first job as a flight instructor. Shortly thereafter, Bill took on a student who was an older man who had his license, but hadn’t flown in six or seven years. The man seemed vaguely familiar to Bill, but it wasn’t until he read the entry “First airplane ride to Billy Hays” in the man’s logbook that Bill finally figured out the connection. Bill went on to work as an Air Traffic Controller before becoming a Commercial and Airline Pilot. He opened ATD in 1996 as a one-room school and now, thirteen years later, is still the proud owner of Kansas City’s largest flight school.