John McCardle

Been a pilot for 3 years with 450 hours now. I grew up playing football and got a scholarship to play at Kansas State. After that I played for 3 years in Germany. Once my football career was over, I started competing in Cross-Fit where I qualified for Regionals. Although, 22 years of competitive sports took a toll on my body and I decided to quit competitive athletics. I needed a new hobby and decided to start hunting, where I then learned that you could fly planes into the back country to hunt. This spurred my interest in backcountry flying, which led to me getting my pilots license in May of 2022, ultimately leading me to STOL. My first STOL competition was May of 2023. I have also started a YouTube channel @john_mccardle documenting my flying and hunting adventures.