About Me

I’m Aureliano Basso, an instrument-rated pilot based in Virginia. I’m building experience toward a professional flying career, with the long-term goal of earning my Airline Transport Pilot certificate and flying in cargo or medevac operations.

I was born in Italy and have lived in France, Canada, and the United States. My background includes Army service and a career in logistics and international supply-chain operations.

I began flight training in 2024 while continuing to work full time. On October 26 of that year, after approximately eleven hours of flight time, I completed my first solo in a Tecnam P92 before transitioning to a Cessna 172 at Hanover County Municipal Airport. I earned my private pilot certificate in May 2025 and later completed my instrument rating in February 2026. I am now working toward my commercial pilot certificate and multi-engine rating while continuing to build experience for a professional flying career.

N18TA — Seventeen Years in the Making

A major part of this journey is N18TA, an experimental Glasair Sportsman that I co-own with a group of close friends.

The airplane was built over approximately seventeen years and eventually equipped with a Lycoming O-360, dual E-Mag electronic ignition, a Hartzell propeller, Grand Rapids EFIS displays, a Garmin GTN 650, and a Trio Pro Pilot autopilot. It is more than transportation or a way to accumulate flight time. It has become a classroom, a shared responsibility, and a central part of the story documented here.

Flying and maintaining an experimental aircraft has taught me that aircraft ownership is inseparable from continuous learning. Every flight, inspection, maintenance decision, and unexpected problem adds another chapter.

An Honest Record of the Journey

Road to the Flight Deck is an honest record of the journey—not a polished version written only after reaching the destination.

Here I document flight training, aircraft ownership, maintenance experiences, avionics, hour building, professional-pilot opportunities, and the decisions that shape the path forward. Some articles are personal stories. Others examine technical subjects, training methods, industry developments, and lessons learned through firsthand experience.

The goal is not to present myself as someone who has everything figured out. It is to share the work, setbacks, progress, and practical knowledge that come with pursuing aviation seriously while balancing a full-time career and everyday life.

If these stories help another pilot prepare more effectively, understand aircraft ownership more realistically, or feel less alone during a difficult part of the journey, then the site is doing what it was created to do.

Fly With Purpose.