Inside a hangar in Hazel Green, a dream is taking shape one rivet at a time. Brandon Vilt, a retired Army master sergeant and decorated veteran of two decades in military aviation, is hand-building his own airplane — a Zenith 750 Super Duty — from a kit. For most builders, it would be a labor of love. For Vilt, who lost his left leg in Iraq in 2007, it is something far greater: proof that no obstacle, no matter how devastating, has the power to permanently ground you.
Vilt served with the 25th Infantry Division, spending much of his Army career working on helicopters before transitioning to unmanned aerial systems. During his first deployment to Iraq, he lost a leg in a devastating accident.
“A vehicle ran my checkpoint,” Vilt said. “They didn’t stop when they were supposed to. It hit a jersey barrier — like a big cement barrier — and it fell on top of my leg and pretty much amputated it instantly.”
What followed was years of recovery — relearning how to walk, adapting to a prosthetic, and redefining what a full life could look like. Vilt did not step away from service. He returned to duty, completed a full military career, and retired honorably as a master sergeant. But his love of aviation never faded.
When he began exploring options for recreational flying, he encountered a technical obstacle: traditional aircraft require full use of both legs. With limited flexibility in his left foot, standard controls were not an option. Rather than accept that barrier, Vilt decided to engineer around it.
“One of the reasons I decided to build my own airplane is that I can’t do toe-heel brakes because I can’t flex my left foot,” he said. “I’m going to put a handbrake on it.”
So, he got to work. Vilt broke ground on the project last July inside his Hazel Green hangar, purchasing kits incrementally as his budget allows — completing the elevator and rudder assemblies before moving on to the fuselage. Funding the build has required creativity. There are no corporate sponsors. He has been selling branded merchandise, including T-shirts and stickers, to keep the project moving.
Vilt has set a deliberate and deeply personal deadline for his first flight: April 22, 2027, exactly 20 years to the day since the accident in Iraq. The symmetry is intentional. He wants the anniversary that once marked loss to become a permanent marker of perseverance and renewal.
For Vilt, the project is about far more than building an aircraft. He speaks with quiet urgency about reaching people who feel their limitations define them — veterans, people with disabilities, or anyone who has told themselves it is too late to pursue something meaningful.
“I’m just hoping to inspire others by showing them that a disability — whatever it may be — doesn’t have to stop you,” Vilt said. “It doesn’t even have to be losing your leg. It can be anything. You just can never give up. Keep pushing forward.”
Vilt describes flying in terms that border on the spiritual — a freedom unlike anything experienced on the ground, where the noise and weight of everyday life simply fall away.
“It’s just unbelievable,” he said. “You don’t have to think about anything else up there. One of my favorite quotes is: a mile of road will take you a mile, but a mile of runway will take you anywhere.”
He is documenting every stage of the build on Facebook and YouTube under the handle “One Legged Aviation,” offering followers a transparent look at the process. Vilt said his goal extends beyond his own cockpit — he wants to pull others into aviation who never thought it was possible for them.
“This is my new mission — to inspire others and get people involved in aviation,” Vilt said. “Kids, adults, even people who think, ‘Well, I’m old now, it’s too late.’ It’s never too late.”
For a man who spent 20 years keeping military aircraft in the sky, the next mission has just begun — and this time, it is entirely his own.