Patriots Take to the Skies

Evan Dyne (’06) and Bryant Massey (’05) both studied business at Francis Marion University. 

After that, their careers took off.

They’re both commercial airline pilots for Delta Air Lines, based out of the company’s massive hub operation in Atlanta. Periodically, they meet in the airport on the way to and from their flights, to catch up and talk shop.

“While we haven’t gotten the chance to co-pilot, we occasionally run into each other in one of the crew rooms between flights,” says Massey. “It’s always nice to have a few minutes to catch up before we’re off to the skies.” 

Both Dyne and Massey have long-time interests in flying, but neither left FMU planning on careers as a pilot. Each had other career ideas, and becoming a pilot is a long haul.

Commercial pilots must earn single- and multi-engine aircraft licenses (the equivalent of a traditional driver’s license), instrument ratings for flying in any weather, a commercial certificate (after 250 hours of flight time), and flight instructor ratings. After that, pilots are required to build up to 1500 hours of flight time to make it to the “majors” like Delta Air Lines.

Massey has had an interest in aviation for a long time. He heard stories from his grandfather, a Navy pilot in World War II, while growing up. As he got older, his interest in aviation grew, so much so that he decided to start skydiving. That, says Massey, “jump started” his career as a pilot.

“I remember being in this plane, getting ready to skydive and just looking over at the pilot and thinking ‘Wow, this is cool. I should learn to fly,’” recalls Massey.

He says he knew at that point that he would one day get his private pilot’s license. He began working towards that shortly after earning his Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing in 2005.

Massey moved to Charleston after graduation where he took a job as a full-time firefighter while pursuing his private pilot’s license. He earned all of his ratings – private, instrument, and commercial – on his days off. Eventually, he left his firefighting job to build flight time and earn his instructor ratings.

Like Massey, Dyne had always been interested in flying, but didn’t start working on a pilot’s license until after college. Dyne moved back to his hometown of Sumter after completing his marketing degree in 2006 and took a job at a bank. While working at the bank he started flying along with a co-worker who had his private pilot license. After work, Dyne would regularly hop in his colleague’s plane and fly to Myrtle Beach for dinner. The thought of being able to do that himself was more exciting to Dyne than his banking job.

When Dyne and his wife, Sarah (nee Carpenter, ’07), moved to Georgia so she could attend graduate school at Georgia State, Dyne decided to enroll in flight school.

He attended ATP Flight School in Lawrenceville, GA, and enrolled in an accelerated program that took just seven months to complete. Says Dyne, “it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. Every day, for seven months, I did nothing but study and fly.” 

At the end of the program, Dyne had his commercial license. 

Although they followed different paths to licensure, the FMU grads’ journey to the big leagues of flying both took about a decade and followed a similar trajectory. Dyne began at Atlantic Southeast Airlines in 2013 before moving to Endeavor Air in late 2017. Massey began with Endeavor in 2011. Both also worked as flight instructors during this time, earning the hours necessary to become “big league” pilots.

A decade later they reconnected at Anderson County Airport when both were flight instructors for different companies. Massey was working for Airwolf Aviation based in Anderson, while Dyne worked out of Peachtree City. 

Dyne flew to Anderson with one of his students who was going for a check ride (a practical test given by the Federal Aviation Administration for a person to earn or renew their license). While waiting for his student, Dyne headed into the Fixed Based Operations area of the airport where pilots can relax or do planning for their next flight. Massey just so happened to be there, and a mini-reunion began. It’s continued ever since.

Dyne and Massey both started as pilots for Delta Air Lines in 2022. Dyne lives a short, 20-minute drive from the Atlanta airport. Massey resides in the upstate of South Carolina with his wife Lindsey (nee Harte, ’07) and their two sons. 

Massey flies a 757 and 767, while Dyne pilots the 737. Currently, all their flights start and end in Atlanta. Both enjoy the culture and camaraderie at Delta. It reminds them of FMU. 

Dyne, a native of Sumter, SC, and graduate of Lakewood High School and Massey, a product of T.L. Hanna High School from Anderson, SC, both knew Francis Marion was the place for them when they began their education at the university over 20 years ago. Something about FMU just felt like home.

The two met through mutual friends on campus, but didn’t have overlapping classes. Both credit their involvement in the business program with contributing to their success as pilots.

“There are over 17,000 pilots at Delta,” says Massey. “Every time I fly, I’m working with someone different. The team work that was so prevalent in many of my marketing classes helps me everyday.”

Echoes Dyne, “The rigor of the School of Business not only helped me during some of the most challenging months of my life in flight school, it also gave me the confidence that I needed – though I didn’t know it at the time – to be a pilot. I never dreamed I’d be addressing a plane full of people when I was a student at FMU, but the skills I learned certainly help me when I talk to passengers 30,000 feet in the air.”