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Writer's pictureMcCord Mecham

'Fly the Y' in BYU


Jonny Hubert and his plane
Credit: Jonny Hubert


When someone says, "Fly the Y" most people would assume they are meaning to put up a BYU flag and support the Cougars. If you ask Jonny Hubert though, to him it means something different.


Jonny is the man behind the X (Twitter) page, "Capt Butter" and he has the BYU world buzzing lately with his incredible flight path art that he is able to create in the skies above Washington state. I was fortunate enough to sit down with Jonny and get to know him a little better, in hopes of helping BYU fans get to know the man behind the propeller.


Jonny, who grew up in Utah, was raised a BYU fan. His father and uncles came to the US from South Africa and all played rugby for BYU. As a kid, like most boys, Jonny took an interest in airplanes, but for him, that interest quickly turned into an obsession. By the time Jonny was 19, he had looked into becoming a pilot but always knew that being away from home a lot would be hard once he had a family. When Jonny met his now wife though, things started to work out in a way that would make that choice easier. "She is the type of person that loves to travel and see the world," Jonny told me, "She is very adventurous" and being away from family was "the one thing kind of holding me back. So I said lets go." So he started down the path of becoming a pilot and has loved it ever since.


His pursuit of flying jobs has now taken him to Washington but he used to be a surveyor and that is where he gained the skill in following direct paths in the sky. Jonny is planning on going to the airlines in a couple of months and to do that he needed 1,500 hours of flight time and he currently needs about 150 more hours to get there. So while flying around he was thinking of what to do during his time. "I was just flying around and I could just fly in circles or go to the same place I've been like 10 times, and then it just came to me. I guess you could draw something in the sky."




Jonny started using his flight path to create art in the sky. He has created an orca over Orcas Island and an elephant as well besides his BYU drawings. "I can only do one BYU drawing a week and I've got way more than one flight per week so I'll just draw something else random."


Jonny has been getting a lot of attention lately not only on Twitter but KSL, one of the biggest news outlets in Utah, had an article about his art as well as CBS in Seattle put it up as well. His video of his orca drawing on TikTok has almost a million views so far. I asked Jonny what he thought of the attention this is getting and he said, "It's really funny, it was just an idea I had." "It's cool to see how many people like it." He added, "It's not what I thought would happen, it's cool!"




I of course had to wrap up our discussion with his prediction for the game this week. "I think BYU takes this one over Kansas." "My final score is going to be BYU 32 and Kansas 26."


We love what you're doing Jonny and can't wait to see you continue to come up with!


Jonny mentioned that he is coming out to the Cincinnati game and if anyone would like to meet him feel free to get in contact with him. He also said thank you to all those who have already supported and continue to support him and follow him on his socials. If you would like to help support Jonny and his artwork or his pursuit to go to the airlines, please follow him on his socials below. Jonny also mentioned that there have been a few people reaching out asking how to help him pay for fuel so Jonny has started a Patreon where you can subscribe and get extra content that he doesn't post anywhere else.




Go Cougs!



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