Why NFL Veteran Pharaoh Brown Is Training to Become a Pilot

Pharaoh Brown is a father, a husband, a graduate of the University of Oregon and a nine-year veteran of the NFL. Soon, he’ll be able to add a pilot’s license to his impressive resume.

This spring, the new Miami Dolphins tight end has been taking flying lessons — pushing past fear, chasing discomfort and learning to appreciate the little things at 10,000 feet. “You can’t let fear stop you,” he says. “You’re gonna learn a lot about yourself, and it’s really gonna help build your character.”

We caught up with the 31-year-old to discuss his offseason training routine, the surprising ways that football relates to flying, and the importance of trying new things.

InsideHook: Where did your interest in aviation come from? Was it a childhood dream or something that came on your radar more recently?

Pharaoh Brown: I wish I had a great story of how it came about, but it was around New Year’s when one of my therapists asked me, What’s your New Year’s resolution? What are you gonna focus on in the new year? I was like, I’m gonna be a pilot! I kind of surprised myself. That was the first time it had ever come up, but you know, four months later, 50 hours into it, I’m getting ready to get my private pilot’s license.

How did you start?

It was pretty easy, actually. We found a great school, which is like 10 minutes from my house. Usually, when you go get signed up, they’ll take you on a discovery ride, you know, because everybody has to learn on a single-engine plane, right? It’s more bumpy, you feel stuff more, and sometimes it’s hard on people’s stomachs. They take you up on a ride to see if it is really for you. But I skipped that whole part. I was like, yeah, I’m doing it.

Do you have an end goal in mind?

I’m going to get my commercial pilot’s license at 250 hours. After you pass that, you can get paid for flying. You could go be a charter pilot, work for a charter company. But I’m just seeing where it leads.

Maybe fly the team to an away game?

Oh yeah, that would be sweet.

So how far along are you in training?

I’m about 50 hours in. The private pilot’s license requires a minimum of 40 hours flying. But typically it takes people about 60 hours on average for that certificate. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel right now.

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How have your teammates, friends and family reacted?

I have a teammate, Brandin Cooks, who actually has way more hours than me. He’s almost at his commercial license, I believe, and he actually learned on the same plane as me. So we talk about it a bunch. My family hasn’t gotten in the plane with me. They’re actually scared to get in the plane with me right now. But my wife’s excited. I’m a big dreamer, and they always support me in my endeavors.

What does flying represent to you?

Honestly, it’s just a surreal kind of experience that is very eye-opening. Being on the ground is safe. Anytime you’re on the ground there is a sense of safety for any human. We get on planes all the time, but until you get in a plane by yourself, with it in your control, you don’t really understand how powerful this earth is that God made. It is so powerful. There are so many things going on that you don’t realize until you get up in the air. It’s like, man, this is serious.

Sometimes I feel like I have a “degree” in weather, you know, with the wind and everything you experience. It requires so much precision, so much patience, so much calm. The pressure of the situation is kind of like football, but it’s also not like football, because at the end of the day, you’re not at risk of dying.

When you’re in the air, there’s a fear of falling, you know — but that just breaks all those other fears, that knowledge that you’re the only one that’s gonna get you down. When you can feel that in your body, man, it’s hard to fathom. It’s just been a great learning experience, a chance to learn more about me, about everything.

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With both football and flying, the stakes are high. Do you approach getting into the cockpit in a similar way to stepping on the field?

The stakes are high in both, and the stakes are higher when you’re flying. But they both take the same preparation. The preparation for me to get ready for a football game, for me to get ready for a football season, is the same as getting ready to go fly, right? You have to be prepared. You have to do a weather report. You’ve got to have your briefing. You have to know where you’re gonna land, what airports are close by.

Before you even get up in the plane, you have to have all of this stuff and know what’s happening, to see if it’s even safe to fly. Then you have to go out and check the plane. Do all your run-throughs to make sure the plane is good. Making sure stuff is moving right, buttons are working, engine is working and running well.

When I used to deal with flights delays, as a passenger, I’d be pissed off. But now, honestly, people might want to be a little more calm during these times and be thankful that these pilots and people are actually being thorough and going through this stuff. Problems can happen quick.

What’s kept you flying? Is it that sense of calm in the air? Or the pursuit of a new skill?

I’ve gone into it without an expectation or looking for something, and I’ve started to figure out more stuff about myself. I think the answer is just that. You’re having fun, you’re doing something that’s different, you’re learning. I always just want to learn. I went back to school to get my masters in finance, which I’m working on now. It’s not that I want to go do a job in finance, I just want to learn. So for me, it’s just about learning and doing fun, cool stuff. I want to open doorways for kids that look like me to see different avenues.

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So what’s next for you?

The season! Getting ready for that. I’m already in training, so I wake up at about 6 a.m. and go work out. I get done with my workout before 8:30 a.m. and then I kind of have my whole day, to take the kids to school, go fly, hang out with my wife, come back, do some recovery at the house.

What are you focusing on right now for workouts?

A lot of cable and band stuff, working on explosiveness, working on my ankles and feet, my hips. But just explosion and dynamic kind of stuff right now. I’m in year nine of my career so I’m kind of past the old, traditional core lifts. I’m still focused on getting stronger, but it’s just about getting stronger in a different way. So I’m focusing on my mobility and flexibility right now.

Definitely. In that vein, how do you approach recovery?

Oh, my recovery is probably world-renowned. I have a garage of longevity. It has a sauna, red light, cold tub, hot tub. I have an “oxygen bath” which is basically like a hyperbaric chamber for the water. And I’m just naming some of the stuff I have and use — I don’t use each one every single day.

What would you say is your biggest takeaway from this journey of becoming a pilot?

My biggest takeaway from it is for people to just be curious. Get out and do new things, learn new things. A lot of times in life we can get caught doing the same thing — we have a career, we have a job and we know how to do that, and we’re great at doing that, but life is about living. And living, in my humble opinion, is about getting to know yourself, pushing the envelope, learning about yourself on every level — spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally.

My biggest message is to get out of your comfort zone and do things you normally wouldn’t do, or that you’ve been saying that you wouldn’t do because you think it’s not attainable. I mean, my first time in the plane flying, I was scared out of my pants, you know, but don’t let that fear stop you.