By: Jose Briseno
A 19-year-old Utah State University Eastern baseball player earned his private pilot certification on March 20, the first Eastern athlete to complete the certification since the program was introduced in 2019 on the Price campus.
Hunter Gatti, a freshman from Riverton, Utah, dreamed of becoming a pilot since childhood. He knew that his post-secondary education depended on one major factor.
“While I was deciding where I would go to college,” Gatti said. “I took aviation into consideration above almost anything else. While looking at in-state schools, I learned that only Utah Valley University, USU and Southern Utah University offer aviation programs.”
A passion for aviation was met with a love for baseball, leading Gatti on a path towards a career as a collegiate baseball player. With the desire to play baseball and fly planes during college, he knew he wanted to find a school that offered both his dreams.
“After my junior year of high school,” he said, “I had received an athletic scholarship to play baseball at USUE. After receiving the offer to play baseball, I knew that Eastern would be where I ended up.”
“[Hunter] was a great player all through high school and was on the radar of many schools,” said USU Eastern head coach Kirk Haney. “I was happy that Utah State Eastern gave him the ability to get aviation schooling, as well as getting to play baseball.”
Gatti completed his first year of the four-year, professional pilot bachelor’s of science, with an emphasis in fixed-wing aircraft. The program consists of 83-required credits over four years of schooling. After completion of the program, students will log an estimated 250-300 flight hours, creating a busy schedule for a student-athlete.
“Coach Haney, along with the other coaches supported me 100 percent of the time and made the load of being a student-athlete much easier,” Gatti said. “While it can be overwhelming at times, the grind is 100 percent worth it.”
The difficulty of balancing school and sport is difficult enough for an athlete but adding the stresses of learning to fly a plane made for an interesting school year. Between his regular class workload, scheduled flights and daily baseball practices, Gatti learned skills that translate to the cockpit and the baseball field.
“Learning to fly has been one of the most beneficial things that ever happened to me,” Gatti said. Flight school is very challenging, and you do a lot more than learn how to fly. Being in flight school taught me beneficial study, prioritization and communication skills plus allowed me the opportunity to chase my dream career of being an airline pilot, while also playing the sport I love.”
“I can’t wait to see what the future holds for him,” said Coach Haney. “Both on the field, and in the air.”
Next for Gatti is working on his instrument rating and building time for his commercial license. But first, Gatti and his Eagle baseball team will battle out the last remaining games of their season, fighting for a conference championship.