Generations of Blue Take Flight
By Lt. Col. Casey Staheli
419th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
As a boy growing up near Houston, Lt. Col. Jefferson Page lived hundreds of miles from Brigham Young University.
Still, BYU was never particularly far from home.
His grandparents, who lived in Utah, recorded BYU football games on VHS tapes and mailed them to Texas. For Page, finding one of those tapes in the mail was a childhood highlight.
One tape received considerably more use than the others.
“I watched my tape of Ty Detmer taking down No. 1 Miami in Provo no less than a thousand times,” Page said. “Ty Detmer was my hero.”
Page occasionally made it to Provo himself. He remembers the roar inside the stadium, high-fiving legendary BYU coach LaVell Edwards and, years later, rushing the field after a comeback victory over Utah.
But another childhood trip to Utah connected two ambitions that would eventually shape his life.
Page remembers seeing fighter jets at Hill Air Force Base before his family traveled south to visit BYU.
“That was the first time I knew I wanted to do both things,” Page said. “Attend BYU and fly fighters.”
On Oct. 17, 2027, those two ambitions will converge over LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Page, a fighter pilot with the 419th Fighter Wing, Air Force Reserve, is scheduled to participate in a four-ship F-35 flyover before BYU takes on Notre Dame, bringing together his family's long connection to the university and a career spent in aviation and military service.
For Page, BYU has long been part of the family story.
His family’s connection to the university spans six generations, reaching back to his great-great-grandfather, who served as a professor at BYU.
Page’s parents also attended the university, and he followed them, enrolling in 2001. After serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France and Switzerland, he returned to Provo in 2004 and graduated in 2007 with a degree in American studies.
Outside the classroom, BYU athletics became part of his college experience. He attended sporting events and remembers watching military flyovers from the other side of the stadium.
Those memories also became intertwined with a defining moment in his decision to serve.
The Sept. 11 attacks occurred during the fall of his freshman year. Page watched the second aircraft strike the World Trade Center from his dorm's common area alongside his roommates.
“I was enrolled in ROTC at the time, and I was so impatient to get into the fight,” Page said. “So, in that way, BYU football and a desire to serve in the Air Force are closely connected in my memories.”
More than two decades later, another generation of the Page family is following a similar path.
Page's oldest son, Hinckley, recently returned from a church mission in Guatemala and began his freshman year at BYU. His daughter, Leah, is studying biophysics at BYU and hopes to attend medical school through the Air Force. She has begun flight training and dreams of combining medicine and aviation as a flight doctor and pilot. She is currently serving a church mission in Brazil.
Both are participating in Air Force ROTC.
For Hinckley, watching his father fly overhead is something he has experienced before.
“I have vivid memories of watching him fly the T-6 Texan while we lived in Mississippi,” Hinckley said. “Seeing him fly over LaVell Edwards Stadium in an F-35 will be amazing. More than anything, it will inspire me. It is a reminder to work hard, as he did, as I pursue my own dream of becoming a fighter pilot.”
Those dreams developed alongside a childhood spent watching his father's military career. As the oldest child, Hinckley grew up on military installations, moved with his family and learned about the Air Force from his father.
“Watching my dad's military career has influenced my entire decision to pursue an Air Force commission,” Hinckley said. “I spent a lot of time with my dad talking about the steps it would take to get there and planning out how I could follow in his footsteps.”
Page sees that journey differently from the cockpit.
“In a lot of ways, Hinckley has put in more sacrifice as the kid of a fighter pilot than I had to during my service,” Page said. “He was with me through pilot training, F-16 training, international assignments, seven moves and multiple deployments. I am so proud of him.”
For Page, flying over the stadium while Hinckley stands below isn't simply another milestone in his own career.
“I'm glad I have a chance to honor him a little bit with this flyover,” Page said.
Page's aviation career extends beyond his service in the Air Force Reserve. In his civilian career, he is an Airbus A350 first officer for Delta Air Lines.
Yet the four F-35s appearing over the stadium will represent more than Page's individual journey.
Airmen from the Air Force Reserve's 419th Fighter Wing and the active-duty 388th Fighter Wing work alongside one another at Hill Air Force Base. Through Total Force Integration, Airmen from both components combine their experience and capabilities to maintain combat readiness.
“The 388th and 419th Fighter Wings bring different strengths to the mission,” said Capt. Caleb McGill, a pilot with the 388th Fighter Wing. “Our Reserve Airmen provide years of experience and expertise, while our active-duty Airmen bring daily training opportunities that strengthen both wings. Having pilots from both wings participate in this flyover reflects the way we train and operate together every day.”
For the thousands of fans inside the stadium, the four-ship formation will be visible for only seconds.
For Page, those seconds will carry decades of history.
BYU initially reached out about supporting one of its football games, and Page said the Notre Dame matchup quickly stood out as an opportunity. He has participated in BYU flyovers before, but this one brings together generations of his family in a way few flights can.
His family plans to be inside the stadium.
Hinckley will be among them – a freshman walking the same campus his father once walked, participating in the same university tradition generations of his family have shared and beginning his own journey toward Air Force service.
“It’s great to have Jefferson fly over for one of the biggest games in BYU football history,” said David Almodova, senior associate athletic director for external operations at BYU. “We’re excited for Cougar Nation to hear his story. BYU is special because of families like the Pages, whose multigenerational ties and lifelong bonds are built through a shared love for BYU and their experiences here.”
Page and the other pilots plan to carry a small piece of that school connection with them into the cockpit. “That's our plan this time,” Page said, “everybody wearing BYU swag.”
The formation will cross the stadium and disappear from view in a matter of seconds. But for the Page family, the moment will connect two journeys separated by a generation.
A boy in Texas once waited for VHS tapes from his grandparents so he could watch his BYU heroes take the field. On a childhood trip to Utah, he watched fighter jets at Hill Air Force Base before heading south to Provo and decided he wanted both to attend BYU and fly fighters.
Decades later, he will bring those two dreams together from the cockpit of an F-35.
Below him will be Hinckley, walking the same campus his father once walked and pursuing an Air Force commission and his own dream of becoming a fighter pilot.
“Watching my dad do what he loves in a community he loves so much will be pretty special,” Hinckley said. “It will be kind of like the culmination of his dreams and the beginning of mine.”
One generation will be in the cockpit.
The next will be looking up.
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