Why a BYU fan and pilot is sketching his love for the Cougars in the sky

He offers a written explanation on his YouTube channel for why he’s using the endless sky to relay his lifelong fandom.

Hey guys, it’s Capt. Butter. I’m a pilot building time to get to the airlines and figured instead of flying in circles, maybe I could draw something. Turns out I’m not too bad, and people seem to like it.

I’d love your support ’cause fuel isn’t cheap.

Who is Capt. Butter? And what is he doing up there in a 1981 Piper Warrior plane borrowed from a local flight school?

Advertisement

Answers: Capt. Butter’s alias is Jonny Hubert. He’s a 25-year-old pilot from Pleasant Grove, Utah, who lives in Bellingham, Wash.

And he loves the BYU Cougars. So as he inches closer to the 1,500 hours required to receive his airline transport pilot certificate and start his job with SkyWest Airlines, he figured he would use the last 150 hours in the sky to send a message to his team back home.

Since the start of the 2023 season, Hubert has taken off from Bellingham International Airport, 20 miles south of the Canadian border, and utilized time in the cockpit to fly over some of the most picturesque views in North America. But there’s more. He’s following a preplanned flight path he has etched out 6,500 feet above sea level to root on BYU before each weekend’s game.

He calls it “Fly the Y.” It’s spelled out on radar, and Hubert’s various social media channels show the view from the computer and the spectacular views from the pilot’s seat. Mapping out the path takes roughly 15 minutes. It’s the flying part that is the ultimate Etch A Sketch in the air. Fans can follow his flights live or rewatch them on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok.

And for two and a half to three hours of each flight, he cruises above the San Juan Islands, drawing the Y and adding a message on his way back:

“BEAT ARKANSAS”

“BEAT KANSAS”

“BEAT CINCY”

This week’s two-hour, 45-minute ride sketched “BEAT TCU,” as the 4-1 Cougars head to Texas to face last year’s national championship finalist.

“I’m basically just filling time,” Hubert said. “I figured if I’m going to fly circles or fly to random places I’ve been to a ton of times already, then maybe I should go try to draw something instead. It’s obvious I’m flying a preplanned track and I’m hand-flying it. There is an autopilot, but it’s a plane from the 1980s, so it would be impossible to autopilot that.”

Advertisement

College football fandom is no stranger to the skies. But usually planes circle a stadium on a given Saturday with a message in tow. South Carolina fans trolled Clemson’s rough season a year ago with a message telling them to enjoy their bowl game. A USC fan in 2018 flew over the L.A. Coliseum with a directive to former Trojans athletic director Lynn Swann: “PLEASE FIRE CLAY HELTON!”

In 2019, a Michigan fan trolled Jim Harbaugh with a tailing message behind a plane telling him it’s OK to throw on first down.

But spending hours above some of the prettiest landscapes around to spell out the BYU logo? To some, it might look impossible to follow those lines. The Y, Hubert said, is way easier than spelling out words or acronyms.

“Like everybody in this day and age, I’m just as skeptical as the next person, I guess,” said Glen Hubert, Jonny’s dad, who played rugby at BYU. “I knew he wouldn’t have photoshopped it. Just looking at how clean those lines were, I thought, ‘Oh my goodness!’ It’s kind of like mowing the lawn in the sky. He’s used to following lines.”

The San Juan Islands, which feature 172 islands and reefs, is Class E airspace, so it’s basically uncontrolled. You don’t have to be on a flight plan. You can do whatever you want. Before Jonny Hubert decided to Fly the Y, he had been transporting construction workers to various islands.

“I’ve been able to go beyond the islands a lot and land at the airports on those islands,” Hubert said. “A few of them have small grass runways. Just a super-cool experience. I love Utah, but it’s nothing like up here.”

As he mentions in his YouTube channel, fuel is expensive, so he started a Patreon page through which BYU fans and fans of his new, extremely unique hobby can donate money so he can get through the season Flying the Y and make it to his 1,500 hours.

Advertisement

Hubert, who attended BYU but did not graduate from there, came home before BYU’s Big 12 home opener against Cincinnati on a Friday night in late September. He didn’t have time to Fly the Y in Washington, so he started putting feelers out to see who could help him fly it over Utah Lake, just east of BYU.

A friend of a friend who runs a flight school was able to help him with a plane. The winds kicked up, which made flying a little harrier than normal, but he was able to complete the Y. The response from the BYU fan base has been rewarding, Hubert said. He’s had fans tell him that waiting to watch him Fly the Y each week is their final hurdle of anticipation before the weekend’s game.

“It’s cool because I’m just as big of a BYU fan as they are,” he said.

Every pilot has a call sign. Huber’s avatar online is of BYU head coach Kalani Sitake edited into the cockpit of a fighter jet. So, why Capt. Butter?

“That was my gamertag on Xbox initially,” he said. “The reason I called it that was because I always said my landings are smooth — smooth as butter.”

Soon, his commercial passengers on SkyWest will appreciate the gentle landings. In the meantime, he’ll continue to slice through the skies with the same message each week, sending good vibes to his favorite team.

(Illustration: Samuel Richardson / The Athletic; Images: iStock)

ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57k3JsaW1ibHxzfJFsZmpoX2Z%2BcK7YrmSfp5%2Bpr6K4y2admqZdpbatu9No