Ex-OC man realizes dream of being pilot

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

A former Van Wert County resident recently realized his lifelong dream of becoming an airline pilot — a dream the COVID-19 pandemic could now put on hold, at least for a while.

Tyler Trisel Overholt, who lived in the Ohio City area as a youngster and attended Lincolnview elementary school, received his commercial airline pilot’s license February 15, and now is an airline transport pilot on Embraer 175 airplanes for regional carrier Republic Airways. Republic covers smaller routes for major U.S. carriers Delta, American, and United Airlines.

“Today, my dream became a reality,” Overholt said of his officially becoming an airline pilot. “None of this would have been possible without the love and support of God, my wife, Kristin Wood Overholt, my family, and friends.”

Overholt, the son of Curtis Overholt of Van Wert and Krista Trisel McKnight, later moved with his mother to Sidney, where he graduated from Sidney High School in 2006. Overholt has a sister, Megan Barnett McKnight of Celina; while his grandparents are Marty and Karen Trisel of rural Ohio City and Jim and Marilyn Overholt of rural Middle Point.

After graduating from high school, Overholt moved on to Bowling Green State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in aviation studies, with a focus on flight technology and operations, in 2010. In June of that year, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force and spent the next five years as an aircraft maintenance officer, first taking the aircraft maintenance officer’s course at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas and then serving at Little Rock AFB in Arkansas, ending up as a captain before leaving active duty in 2015.

Following his active duty career, Trisel then joined the Air Force Reserve and has served in a variety of roles at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton over the past five years. He was promoted to the rank of major in September of last year and currently leads more than 180 aircraft maintenance technicians who maintain a fleet of C-17A cargo aircraft.

Although he notes he has never flown military aircraft, Overholt took his first flight lesson in a civilian plane at the age of 14 and later took flying up full-time at BGSU, graduating with a multi-engine commercial pilot’s license.

After leaving active duty in the Air Force, he became a certified flight instructor (CFI) and later an instrument instructor (CFII).

Sadly, only two months after he earned his airline pilot’s license, Overholt’s flying opportunities as a commercial pilot have been reduced considerably by the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Overholt said the pandemic has reduced the demand for passenger air travel by more than 80 percent in the past two months, and could get worse if airlines don’t receive a share of the federal stimulus package.

“With passenger demand at an all-time low, we and our codeshare partners are at risk of being furloughed before the end of the fiscal year,” Overholt said.

However, although the pandemic has reduced his airline piloting opportunities, it has also increased his work as an aircraft maintenance officer for the Air Force Reserve.

“Work has been steadily increasing as we (C-17 aircraft) have been supporting various missions in support of the coronavirus (medical effort),” Overholt explained, adding the USAF cargo planes have transported healthcare supplies from Italy to Memphis, while also flying Air Force nurses to New York City to help treat the increased number of confirmed COVID-19 patients there.

Now, along with just about everyone else, Overholt is hoping the pandemic dies out soon and things return to normal, so he can get back to doing the job he has dreamed about most of his life.