Hands on the stick
We favor stick-and-rudder fundamentals over glass-cockpit shortcuts. Feel the air. Read the wind. Fly the airplane — the way Kern County’s open country rewards pilots who still look outside.
Kern County · Bakersfield · Tehachapi · Central Valley
Learn to fly in the spirit of the Golden Age
Private pilot training, instrument rating, and vintage tailwheel orientation — taught with the craft, courtesy, and quiet confidence of the barnstormer era, under the wide skies of Kern County and California’s Central Valley.
Why Old Wes
Not a factory school.
A flying tradition.
Vintage manners
Clear radio, tidy walkarounds, respect for the ramp. The Golden Age wasn’t only about airplanes — it was about how you carried yourself, from the Valley floor to the Tehachapi ridges.
Valley & mountain skies
Broad Central Valley airspace near Bakersfield, mountain approaches toward Tehachapi, and morning light that still looks like a travel poster. Room to learn properly.
Training Courses
From first lesson to golden ticket
Flight training for aspiring pilots across Kern County and the Central Valley. Inquire for rates — packages tailored to your pace and aircraft preference.
Primary
Private Pilot
Part 61 · Certificate
Ground school, dual instruction, and solo milestones toward your Private Pilot Certificate. Built around real airmanship — not checkbox flying — with local pattern work and Valley cross-countries.
- Preflight & weather discipline
- Cross-country planning
- Checkride preparation
Advanced
Instrument Rating
IFR · Precision
Master the gauges and procedures that turn weather from a wall into a craft. Precision approaches, holds, and IFR decision-making suited to Central Valley and mountain-transition flying.
- Partial-panel proficiency
- Approach plate fluency
- IMC judgment & CRM
Vintage
Tailwheel / Vintage Orientation
Conventional Gear
Step into the classic era. Tailwheel endorsement and vintage-aircraft orientation for pilots who want the full Golden Age experience over Kern County’s open fields.
- Wheel landings & three-points
- Ground-loop awareness
- Open-cockpit manners
Rates upon inquiry — we match aircraft, instructor, and schedule to your goals.
The Aerodrome
Where Kern County meets the sky
Old Wes Flying calls Kern County home — the stretch of California’s Central Valley around Bakersfield, with Tehachapi’s ridgelines rising to the east. Broad horizons, workable winds, and the kind of golden light that once sold tickets to Rio and Honolulu.
Whether you’re driving in from Bakersfield, the mountain towns, or farther up the Valley, you’ll find hangar doors that open early, coffee on the bench, and instruction with a soul — radial dreams and Lycoming realities included.
- Region
- Kern County · Central Valley
- Serving
- Bakersfield · Tehachapi & nearby
- Character
- Quiet ramp · Classic feel
- Atmosphere
- Barnstormer hospitality
Instructors
Guides of the old school
Wes “Old Wes”
Chief Instructor · CFI / CFII
Believes every pilot should still know how to slip to a landing and fold a chart without apology — Valley pattern or mountain inbound.
Mae
Instrument · Ground School
Turns approach plates into poetry and weather briefings into clear decisions — especially when the Valley fog or ridge winds have opinions.
Theo
Tailwheel · Vintage Ops
Keeps the taildraggers honest and the hangar stories better than the coffee.
Meet the roster — we’ll match you with the right mentor for your course.
About
Old Wes Flying
Old Wes Flying is a flight training school rooted in the romance and rigor of aviation’s Golden Age — late 1920s through the 1940s — when posters sold the dream and pilots earned it one careful hour at a time.
From Kern County skies around Bakersfield and Tehachapi to the broader California Central Valley, we train modern certificates with classic values: stick-and-rudder skill, radio discipline, and a deep respect for the machine and the sky. Whether you’re chasing your first solo or a tailwheel endorsement, you’ll find instruction that’s personal, polished, and proudly unhurried.
Discovery flights welcome first-timers and curious passengers alike. Bring your questions — leave with a clearer sense of what it means to fly well.
Contact
Book a Discovery Flight
Serving Kern County, Bakersfield, Tehachapi, and the Central Valley. Reach Jake McHenry to schedule — or send a note below.