Hey, I’m Brett

I got into flying back in the early 2000s. I’m both airplane and helicopter rated, with several thousand hours in each. While some people get into aviation to build hours for the airlines, I took a different path. I got into flying to unlock a life of adventure.

For nearly a decade, I worked as an FAA air traffic controller, guiding traffic in both tower and approach control at some of the busiest facilities on the West Coast. It was an incredible experience, but I always knew I didn’t want to spend my life watching adventure from the ground. In 2016, I left the FAA to start my own business. Today, I run a marketing and data analytics company, helping small businesses and Fortune 500 companies grow through smart branding and creative ad campaigns.

Along the way, I married my best friend, Aurora, who’s also a pilot with a tailwheel endorsement. Together, we are raising a kiddo who’s just as obsessed with airplanes as we are. In 2021, we decided it was time to go all in on adventure. We packed up everything and moved to Alaska, the ultimate pilot's paradise, where we could fly into the wild from our own backyard.

This channel started as a simple way to share videos of my flying with friends in the Lower 48. From there, it grew into something bigger. Originally, it was called Adventure Alaska, but as our adventures expanded into Canada and the Lower 48, the name no longer fit. One day, during a routine handoff, a controller cleared me into new airspace with the words, “Cleared to Adventure.”

The phrase stuck and so did the mission.

Now, Cleared to Adventure is where I share the raw, wild beauty of backcountry flying and the stories that unfold when you point the nose toward the unknown. This isn’t a business, it’s just a glimpse into our life of adventure and the incredible places aviation takes us.

So buckle up and subscribe. The sky is wide open and the adventure is just getting started.