Willem Ditch can distill what he loves most about teaching aviation to a singular moment. It’s when a young pilot realizes they can indeed fly a plane and are awash with confidence and pride.
Christ School is pleased to announce Willem as its new Director of the Robert Morgan ’36 Aviation Program following a competitive national process.
Willem is a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified instructor who has taught at every level of training. Most recently, Willem has been Assistant Chief Instructor with the Illinois Aviation Academy, where he supported 300-400 students and their instructors through flight training, curriculum development, mentoring, and program administration.
Much of his work centers around helping students progress from their initial flights through practical test preparation while maintaining the training standards and structure required to run a large aviation program.
Willem’s experience includes 1,200 hours of flight time and more than 1,000 combined hours of either flight instruction or ground instruction.
Mr. Ditch caught the bug for aviation and teaching after graduating from Loyola University Chicago with a Chemistry degree in 2022. He earned his private, instrument, commercial, and flight instructor certificates over the course of one year.
Willem and his wife live in Asheville.
The Robert Morgan Aviation Program was founded in 2022, and at the time was one of only three like it among U.S. high schools. Luke Garner ’24 and Tyler Brouse ’25 were the first Greenies to make solo flights in 2024 and the most recent pilot to accomplish the feat was Richard Magruder ’28.
Pilots learn on campus and through Western North Carolina Aviation – an FAA-certified flight school – which is owned by a Christ School family, Charles and Amy Thomas P’21. WNC Aviation is housed within Asheville Regional Airport, the third-busiest airport in North Carolina and less than 5 miles from campus.