How a Navy Veteran Built an Aviation Business From Scratch

Summary

Podcast Summary: "How a Navy Veteran Built an Aviation Business From Scratch"

Podcast: Living Your Legacy
Host: Jason Tyler
Guest: Daniel McBride, Owner of North Texas Aeronautics
Date: July 13, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode of Living Your Legacy, host Jason Tyler sits down with Daniel McBride, a Navy Veteran turned aviation entrepreneur, to explore his journey from military life to building North Texas Aeronautics. The conversation dives into McBride’s challenging transition back into civilian life, the winding path through various industries, the leap into entrepreneurship, and the persistent, gritty work required to build his aviation maintenance business. The episode is packed with practical wisdom on perseverance, the realities of business ownership, and the importance of following one’s passions—even through adversity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Humble Beginnings and Military Service

• Background: Daniel shares his modest upbringing, limited college experience, and entry into the military at age 17.
• Military Structure vs. Civilian Freedom:
  • In the military, "everything is so structured...you don't really have to think about a lot of things."
  • The abrupt shift post-service left him searching for direction without clear guidance (03:00–03:41).

2. Transition: The Challenge of Civilian Life

• Reality Check: Upon leaving military service, Daniel anticipated an easy entry into helicopter maintenance but was unprepared for the required civilian certifications.
• Struggles: He recounts a period of uncertainty—living with in-laws, job hunting the “old school” way, and submitting resumes face-to-face (03:54–04:41).
• Varied Jobs: Worked at Goodyear, in defense, gun sales, law enforcement, the oil field as a crane operator, and even building explosives—searching for meaningful work (04:51–05:22).

3. Rediscovering Passion in Aviation

• Key Realization: Despite trying many industries, nothing matched the satisfaction of aviation.
• Return to Purpose: "What I was happy doing was aviation. So I found my way back to aviation. And now, I mean, I look forward to going into work every day." (05:22)

4. Launching North Texas Aeronautics

• Starting the Business:

  • Sparked by friends suggesting they "flip" airplanes together, leading Daniel to leave his stable job.
  • Describes the anxiety of being on his own:
    • "I found myself in an empty hangar with just some tools, realizing, you know, what did I do?" (07:00)
  • Early days involved relentless work: "I think we had up to like 13 airplanes...just around the clock, seven days a week, sometimes 18, 20 hours a day." (07:59)

• Growth & Milestones:

  • Survived partners leaving, capitalized on an opportunity to buy their hangar.
  • The company now has 13–14 employees and takes on significant projects, including servicing Arnold Palmer’s first Citation 650 jet (07:59–08:10).

5. Memorable Projects & Legacy Moments

• Notable Project: Working on Arnold Palmer’s world-famous jet. Daniel only learned its history after finishing the job:
  • “It wasn’t until right before it left, the owner came out and said, yeah, I don’t know if I ever told you the history of this. This is a world famous plane. Arnold Palmer, you know, Cessna sponsored him…” (09:30–10:05).
  • Regret at not taking a group photo with the plane but hopes for another chance (10:05–10:11).

6. Advice and Core Philosophies

• Perseverance Above All:
  • “If you want success, you have to go out and get it and you have to spend everything you have, all the time that you have, and just constantly work for it and just don’t ever let anything stop you. You’re gonna have some bad days, you’re gonna have some really, really crappy days, but you just gotta keep putting one foot forward.” — Daniel McBride (10:42)
• On Getting Through Tough Times:
  • Jason: “At some point on your journey, you will...get out of what I like to call it the suck. And in the beginning, it’s almost all the suck. But as you kind of persevere your way through it...you’re going to get to your destination.” (11:18)
• Relatability: Daniel emphasizes his ordinary background as proof others can succeed too:
  • “I have some college, no degree, and I didn’t come from anything crazy. So basically, if I can do it, you know, you can do it…” (02:14, restated throughout)

7. Community & Company Outreach

• Current Work: North Texas Aeronautics’ website is iflynta.com, and they’re active on Instagram and Facebook.
• Aviation Community: Sponsor of the Next Gen Eagles aerobatic team (11:57–12:27).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Transitioning from the Military:
  • “No one was telling me what to do and when to do it. So it was kind of a shock just trying to figure life out after the military...” — Daniel McBride (02:59)
• On Fear & First Steps in Business:
  • “I remember doing one oil change on a customer’s plane. I was so nervous doing it because, again, I was by myself. No one’s looking after me. You know, I didn’t want to mess up.” (07:00)
• On the Hard Work of Building a Business:
  • “Seven days a week, sometimes 18, 20 hours a day, just to try to keep them in the air, flying for the flight school.” (08:00)
• On Key to Success:
  • “If you want success, you have to go out and get it…just don’t ever let anything stop you.” (10:42)
• On Working on an Icon’s Plane:
  • “Arnold Palmer, you know, Cessna sponsored him and he did all these different trips with it…And I had to tell my whole shop…kind of wish we would have known that from the beginning.” (09:30–10:05)

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Timestamps: Key Segments

• 00:00–01:35: Daniel’s background and introduction
• 02:14: Core message—perseverance and “if I can, you can” philosophy
• 02:35–03:41: Military service and early civilian transition
• 04:51–05:22: Bouncing between jobs, rediscovering passion for aviation
• 05:51–08:10: Founding the business, early struggles, first big projects
• 09:30–10:11: Story of Arnold Palmer's jet, making history
• 10:42–11:18: Daniel’s advice on success and perseverance
• 11:57–12:27: Where to find North Texas Aeronautics, company outreach

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Tone & Takeaways

The episode unfolds with authentic, straight-shooting conversation—Daniel’s story is humble but tenacious, combining realism about adversity with contagious optimism. Both host and guest keep the exchange light and relatable with humorous nods (“run with it” jokes about Daniel’s name and handling life). Aspiring entrepreneurs and veterans will find Daniel’s resilience, willingness to start over, and focus on hard work and perseverance both motivating and instructive.

Overall Message:
No matter your background or credentials, with perseverance, flexibility, and relentless effort, it’s possible to create something extraordinary—even if the journey starts in uncertainty. “As long as you keep putting one foot forward…eventually you’ll make it.” (10:42)

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For more on Daniel’s work, visit North Texas Aeronautics at iflynta.com and follow their social channels.

Transcript

[A]

I have some college, no degree, and I didn't come from anything crazy. So basically, if I can do it, you know, you can do it. Because as long as you just persevere and just don't let anybody tell you no, and you just keep working at it, nothing can stop you in life. Daniel McBride is an aviation maintenance expert, entrepreneur, and the owner of North Texas Aeronautics. He helps aircraft owners and operators maximize safety, reliability, and performance through expert maintenance, inspections, and technical excellence. I did eight years in the Navy, and then I did six years in the Texas Army National Guard. And when I got out, all of a sudden I have a wife and two kids. And then I had to figure everything out on my own. I had so many different jobs, and then that's when I realized couldn't really find happiness in anything I was doing. But what I was happy doing was aviation. So I found my way back to aviation, and now, I mean, I look forward to going into work every day.

[B]

What would be your, like, number one key to success for anybody out there that's listening?

[A]

You want success? It spans the globe like a super high cold Internet Elvis ready for free. Today, Apple is going to reinvent the it's not over until I win the Living your Legacy podcast. For those who live to leave a legacy that's extraordinary. The impossible has been. Oh, that is sensational. Jordan Open Chicago was the lead. You said, Paul is the fastest man on the planet. You can live your dream.

[B]

Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of the Living your Legacy podcast. I'm your host, Jason Tyler, and today I am joined by someone who shares a name with a particular actor. Mr. Danny McBride.

[A]

Yep. Daniel McBride.

[B]

Daniel McBride.

[A]

Everyone asks if. If I'm related to Danny McBride.

[B]

You get. You must get that pretty often.

[A]

I do, but I go along with it, so just run with it. Yeah, I just run with it.

[B]

As with most. Most things in life, just. Just run with it.

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

So we're about to go into filming your episode of Operation CEO. What would you say is, like, the key takeaway that you want people to get from your story?

[A]

Basically, I try to tell people, you know, I have a. I have some college, no degree, and I didn't come from anything crazy. So basically, if I can do it, you know, you can do it, because as long as you just persevere and just don't let anybody tell you no, and you just keep working at it, nothing can stop you in life as

[B]

long as you just run with it. Yeah, just run with it. Now, you know, for Operation CEO, that's Our show for our veterans. Can you tell me a little bit about your time with the military? And just kind of, you know, this is one thing that I see a lot with our guys for Operation CEO is they. A lot of them talk to me about their transition back into the civilian world. So tell me a little bit about that.

[A]

Well, so I did eight years in the Navy, and then I did six years in the Texas Army National Guard. And you know, in the military, everything is so structured. You really don't have. You don't really have to think about a lot of things. So when I got out, all of a sudden I have a wife and two kids. And then I had to figure everything out on my own. No one was telling me what to do and when to do it. So it was kind of a shock just trying to figure life out after the military because I went in when I was 17, and after eight years, mom and dad isn't telling you what to do, the military isn't telling you what to do, and now you're just kind of left on your own. Figure it out. So that was, that was the hardest part for me.

[B]

Do you, do you find that it's like a kind of a period of like self discovery, like, all right, I don't have any directions coming from, you know, above me. What would, what would I. Tell me what to do. You know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah, I just really didn't know what to do when I got out. Well, I thought I had it all planned out. I worked on helicopters. So when I got out, I was like, well, I'm just going to work at Bell Helicopter. They're going to hire me. I know everything about helicopters. And I called them and they asked me if I had a certain license. I didn't have it. So I called other helicopter places. They asked also if I had this certain kind of license. I didn't have it. And so then all of a sudden I realized, well, maybe I'm not going to be able to work on helicopter. So then all of a sudden I was, I was just looking around. I had to live with the in laws for about a month, just trying to figure out where we're going to live, if we're going to live in an apartment. So I just had to kind of do it old school, print out some resumes and just start handing them out face to face.

[B]

And so what were some of those first experiences going back into, you know, the civilian workforce? And then how did it lead to the founding of your company?

[A]

Well, I had so many different Jobs. I started working at Goodyear for a little bit, and then I worked at an F16 place for a few years. I sold guns at a gun dealer, and then I was a jailer for a year, a cop for three years. And then I went to the oil field as a crane operator and built explosives. And then that's when I realized that I really didn't. I couldn't really find happiness in anything I was doing, but what I was happy doing was aviation. So I found my way back to aviation. And now, I mean, I look forward to going into work every day.

[B]

It's. It's the. It's the prodigal son story, right? It's like I went out and to. To your credit, like, that's a broad. You know, a lot of different industries that you've been a part of, right? But you can't.

[A]

You.

[B]

What you. While you were in the military, you were working on helicopters. You found a passion in that, went on this whole journey. And then now that you came back to it, talk to me about, like, the day that you made the decision to sort of found your own company.

[A]

I was working for an aviation company, and I had some friends that. They saw that I flipped a plane, and they said, hey, I think we could all do this together. You want to do it? And I was like, yeah, sure. So there was one other guy I didn't really know, but he was really interested in aviation. So he came into work one day, and I was like, hey, I have two other friends that want to flip airplanes. Would you be interested? He said, let's do it. And so right then, about three weeks later, I ended up putting in my notice at work, and I went off on my own. And that's when stuff really got real. I mean, because after I quit, all of a sudden, I was on my own all by myself. Realized there was no. We didn't have any planes to currently flip. And so I. I remember doing one oil change on a customer's plane. I was so nervous doing it because, again, I was by myself. No one's looking after me. You know, I didn't want to mess up. I didn't want anything to go wrong. And then shortly after that, I found myself in an empty hangar with just some tools, realizing, you know, what did I do? What did I just get myself into? And shortly after that, one of my buddies, he. My business partner, Michael, he ended up buying two planes. And then all we did was we put them in a flight school. And I was just working on those planes nonstop. And Then we ended up getting more and more planes. I think we had up to, like, 13 airplanes. I was working on them all by myself, just around the clock, seven days a week, sometimes 18, 20 hours a day, just to try to keep them in the air, flying for the flight school. And then what happened was it didn't. We couldn't flip planes anymore. So my other two friends, business partners, they stepped out. So then it was just me and Michael. And then from there, we had an opportunity to buy this hangar, the one that I was working at. And now we went from just me being by myself to now I think we have 13 or 14 employees working there. And now we're working on. We just got through working on Arnold Palmer's very first citation. It was serial number 0001. It's the first citation 650 ever made. And we just got that out of our hangar a few days ago. And now we're just kind of working on pretty much anything that has wings

[B]

on it for, like, my background was, like, before I ever got into production work. I started off as a car mechanic. And so that was, like, my first job out of high school. Love cars. And like you, I. I got into flipping cars. So I had. By the time I was. I think by the time I was 20, I had owned seven cars at that point. And then I just. Just kept. I would buy an old, like, 99 Honda Civic, build it up, get the motor running real nice, flip it, do it over and over and over again. And there was a. You know, just to talk, speak to the. Having that Arnold Palmer in the hangar, there was an opportunity that I got while I was working for Acura, where you. You ever watch Pulp Fiction?

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

All right. So you know the Wolf has that silver NSX that he drives in.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

So as. As I was working at Acura, that exact car from the movie drove in and drives into my bay. And it was just for a routine oil change, okay. But the owner came out and was telling me the story of the car. And I'm a big movie. I'm a big movie nerd at that point. And I was like, this is the Pulp Fiction nsx. Like, I was losing my mind. I was losing my mind. I think that having those moments makes it all, like, worth it at the end of the day. Would you say so?

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. You know, most of my shop worked on the plane. We did from avionics to a landing gear, tire changes. We removed the oxygen. We did a whole bunch of stuff to this plane. And then it Wasn't until right before it left, the owner came out and said, yeah, I don't. I don't know if I ever told you the history of this. This is a world famous plane. Arnold Palmer, you know, Cessna sponsored him and he did all these different trips with it. And, you know, it was kind of after the fact. And I had to tell my whole shop that or, you know, everyone that was working there. And, you know, I kind of wish we would have known that from the beginning.

[B]

Nobody got to take a selfie with the plane.

[A]

No. No. So, yeah, no one took. I wish I would have taken a group shot.

[B]

That's like the worst thing. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So, so hope. I mean, it'll come back and I'll definitely get a picture with it. Yeah.

[B]

For the people out there. Guys, if you're watching still at this point, I want to just, you know, make sure that you guys check out Daniel's episode of Operation CEO because it's going to be coming out shortly after this podcast episode drops. And what I want to ask is for our audience, you know, our audience is super entrepreneurial. They're very business minded. What would be your, like, number one key to success for anybody out there that's listening?

[A]

Here's the thing is, if you want to be successful, you have to go out and get it. I always thought that somebody was going to give me something. I thought I was just going to, like, find a bag of money. That's never going to happen. If you want success, you have to go out and get it and you have to spend everything you have, all the time that you have, and just constantly work for it and just don't ever let anything stop you. You're gonna have some bad days, you're gonna have some really, really crappy days, but you just gotta keep putting one foot forward. Eventually, eventually you'll make it. As long as you keep putting one

[B]

foot forward, at some point on your journey, you will. As long as you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you will get out of what I like to call it the suck. And in the beginning, it's almost all the suck. But as you kind of persevere your way through it, and that's the whole thing, is you're able to persevere and just keep pushing forward. As long as you know what direction you're going in, you're going to get to your destination.

[A]

Absolutely. Absolutely.

[B]

Now, Daniel, for the audience, where can people find you if they want to learn more about your story? Find you on social media if you know Anybody's out there that has a plane that they need work on, where can they find you?

[A]

Yeah, so it's called North Texas Aeronautics. We have a website, iflynta.com all over social media, on Instagram, on Facebook. My wife, she does all of our social media and she's constantly putting out some great stuff. So we're all over. We get celebrities that come in through our hangar. We get. We actually sponsor the next gen. Eagles are an aerobatic team that goes all around the United States and performs in all the different air shows. And so, yeah, social media is the main place you can find us.

[B]

That's sick. I didn't even have aerobatics. I haven't even heard that term before, but I. I know of it.

[A]

Like a stunt plane.

[B]

Yeah, I know. I just never. I had never heard the term aerobatics, but it makes. It's like acrobatics, but for the air.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. There's some people call them like stunt planes or doing stunts in the air, but I guess our lingo's aerobatics.

[B]

I do. I do want to say it has been a great pleasure having you on the show. So thank you for stopping by with us, and I believe we are ready to go and record your episod. You ready?

[A]

Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

[B]

Of course. Of course. Let's go do it.

[A]

All right.

[B]

All right, guys, this has been another episode of the Living your legacy podcast. Again, I am your host, Jason Tyler, and I will catch you guys in the next one.