“A Dream’s Reality: The Making of a Fighter Pilot”
Story written by Nakonia (Niki) Hayes
Interviewed on Jenny Marie Hatch Podcast -- 6.28.25
Jenny Marie Hatch’s Motto: Healthy Families Make a Healthy World
[PERSONAL NOTE FROM DONNA GARNER: I have known Niki Hayes for over 25 years. She is a “forever teacher.”
Niki stated, “When I see students with the heart to do the work to fulfill a dream, I offer to help them as much as I can.”]
Here is how Niki Hayes describes Hunter:
“Hunter Herbert landed his first airplane at age 12 and earned his pilot's license at age 16.
Now, 26 years old, he's a pilot of the highly praised F-35A fighter jet for the U.S. Air Force.
He really did have a dream and is now living it.
I was trusted by his parents and by him to tell his story. I will be forever grateful for this opportunity.”
Niki was a guest on the Jenny Marie Hatch Podcast on 6.28.25.
By going to this link, you can either listen to the podcast or read Niki’s story about Hunter Herbert:
https://healthyfamilies.substack.com/p/2025-a-dreams-reality-the-making?utm_campaign=post_embed
To entice your curiosity, below are a few written excerpts from the interview:
Hunter was 11 years old and propped up on his father’s lap in a 4-seater airplane. This allowed him to see out of the plane’s front window so he could “fly” the airplane.
His father, Mike Herbert, as a licensed pilot had figured his son might enjoy pretending to be a pilot. That was in 2010.
In 2024, Hunter was 25 years old, 6’1” tall, and still looking out of the front windows of airplanes.
This time he’s a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy with an additional three-year period of military flight training behind him.
Officially a captain now in the U.S. Air Force, Hunter has been assigned to fly the premier F-35A fighter jet for this country.
According to Wikipedia, the F-35A is “a primary fighter for conducting suppression of enemy defense forces.”
Recently married, Hunter and his wife, Peyton, who is also a recent graduate of the Air Force Academy, have moved to England for his three-year assignment at RAF Lakenheat, a British airbase.
It is only one of four military bases world-wide set up for support and maintenance of the F-35A.
Other bases that operate the F-35A are in Arizona, Alaska, Florida, and Utah.
...Hunter’s story reflects a pathway of building blocks through unexpected experiences, family influences, and, at the age of 12, successfully landing his father’s airplane…
Being a successful pilot at that young age, Hunter knew he would spend his life around airplanes…