A close encounter with bull sharks on a surfboard at age eight and a terrifying plane ride through a lightning-riddled thunderstorm at nine are typically the stuff of adult nightmares. For Tony Hicks, they were motivators for a lifelong pursuit of adventure.
“These things that began as fears … flying, rough weather, dangers in the water … eventually became more of a curiosity,” Hicks explains, “and as I studied them and learned a lot from it, it led to things that
I now practice, train others, and publish on: stress inoculation, getting into a flow state, and learning how to think through a challenging situation.”
A veteran naval aviator, a private jet pilot and trainer, a certified scuba diver and dive leader, a meteorology specialist and experienced storm chaser, the owner of Deep Blue Adventure and Aviation is most fulfilled when he’s pushing the envelope in the sky, beneath the sea or on the ground.
“From flying an F-14 Tomcat to a Dassault Falcon, A1C Husky, or SF-50 Vision Jet, my aviation background ranges from corporate pilot and aircraft carriers to helping get an aircraft certified,” Hicks explains. Before his corporate career, Hicks served in the U.S. Navy for eight years; earned a bachelor’s in entrepreneurship at Florida State University, where he began scuba diving; and earned a master’s in geological science with a minor in meteorology at Mississippi State University, where he discovered storm chasing. Although he twice qualified and applied for NASA's astronaut program, he was ultimately not selected.
“Between flying jobs and academic pursuits [including teaching at the collegiate level], the concept of this adventure experience business emerged,” Hicks says. One arc of Deep Blue focuses on mentoring and training owner-pilots in advanced aircraft such as the Cirrus Vision Jet. Training pilots to fly in mountainous terrain, handle surprises such as bird strikes, navigate convective weather or icing, and use advanced onboard radar is a long-term passion. Hicks recounts that soon after training with his proprietary SCORE program, one of his client-pilots experienced a bird strike in flight and reported that he successfully applied what he learned. Scenario-based SCORE training emphasizes performance under pressure—developing the judgment and composure needed when situations don't go as planned.
Hicks also leads scuba diving trips, often combined with kayaking and free diving. “I arrange more laid-back trips where clients don’t feel so rushed and can design their own dive, depending on how advanced their skill level is, which is more empowering and adventurous than just following someone’s fins around.”
The storm chase expedition is the third arc of Hicks’ adventure business. Clients often are interested in learning about severe weather firsthand and even in becoming a trained storm spotter. A week-long journey out of the Great Plains, trips are in May because of weather patterns. “From Texas up through Nebraska, the terrain is better to see them, and storms are fairly epic. I make it as interactive as possible. We get up in the morning and have a full briefing of what I am looking at: atmosphere 30,000 ft. down to the surface, the winds, the flows, where the low pressure is, and where boundaries are between air masses, moisture and temperatures.”
As a qualified storm tracker, Hicks reports to the National Weather Service during chases, providing ground truth, or verification in the field.
“We pre-position in an area, usually in a big field with good visibility and 5G service, keep an eye on the radar and when we start to see activity, that’s when the chase is on, usually around 5 p.m. We typically position southeast of the activity so we’re not getting pounded by all the precipitation. It’s better visibility, so the wind is at our back, the inflow side. Like setting up your next pool shot, we try to set up the next day each evening. If it’s going to be a good chase day, we position ourselves in the general range for the night.”
This past May, Hicks conducted a client expedition spanning Nebraska, Kansas, Texas and Colorado, and shared photos and excerpts from his daily log.
Deep Blue Storm Chase Journal, May 2026
Travel Day – May 16, 2026
The initial travel day carried us through Missouri, ending in St. Joseph, Missouri, as we prepared for the first operational chase briefing the following morning.
Day 1 – May 17, 2026 – Nebraska
The original plan had been to stage in Norfolk, Nebraska, but evolving conditions caused a shift toward Columbus before pushing farther west. Initiation occurred earlier than expected, and the chase began quickly. We tracked the supercell through Duncan, Silver Creek and several small farming communities.
At one point, we intercepted the tail end of a very strong tornado. The circulation had become heavily rain- and dust-wrapped, and visibility deteriorated quickly enough that we chose not to push any closer.
As the evening evolved, the storm transitioned into a sprawling, lightning-producing complex with mammatus, rainbows, lightning and dramatic sunset structure.
Day 2 – May 18, 2026 – Kansas
After ending Day 1 in Lincoln, Nebraska, the initial target was near Salina, Kansas.
We intercepted our first storm near Concordia, Kansas, and tracked the supercell through Palmer, Blue Rapids and surrounding farm country. We observed several funnels and, potentially, a large tornado at a considerable distance.
To avoid growing chase crowds, we worked a network of dirt farm roads. While navigating Osage Road, the vehicle became deeply stuck in heavy mud between tornado-warned supercells. We deployed the winch and recovered the vehicle ourselves.
Days 3–4 – May 19–20, 2026 – Texas
May 19 was primarily a strategic repositioning day. Forecast guidance showed limited severe potential across the Plains, so we repositioned south toward Texas …
May 20 … The day still produced dramatic storm structure, shelf clouds, rain shafts and lightning over the open Texas landscape.
Final Chase Day – May 21, 2026 – Colorado
The final chase day began in Amarillo, with eastern Colorado newly upgraded from a marginal to slight risk area.
The original staging target was Burlington, Colorado, but operational thinking shifted slightly west to Stratton to avoid ending up too far east and out of position.
… Using Colorado’s dirt-road grid system, we positioned ahead of the developing supercell and set up drone operations and time-lapse photography.
A second storm unexpectedly developed to the south and forced us to punch through a hail core near Cope, Colorado, in order to reestablish position ahead of the dominant storm. I had to retrieve the Insta360 camera from the roof mount while hail began falling.
We again encountered the Doppler on Wheels (DOW) team and the TIV. By evening, after hours of repositioning and tactical maneuvering, we intercepted a tornado spin-up—appropriately occurring on Tim’s [his client] birthday.
This expedition reinforced the operational themes that overlap between storm chasing, aviation and the SCORE mindset: preparation, adaptability, disciplined decision-making, risk management and maintaining composure under rapidly changing conditions.
Hicks’ veteran-owned business seeks to reach out to veterans in particular, offering them significant discounts. “I know it can do for them what it did for me—offset the loss of adrenaline, the letdown after leaving military-level activity. When I got out at 30, I was mountain biking, scuba diving, doing everything I could to push the envelope. These expeditions bring back the team-building and camaraderie required for a combat mission. You’ve got to plan it, and everyone has their part to play.”
Hicks is keenly aware that the adventures Deep Blue offers can satisfy a wide range of interests, aspirations and curiosities. “My clients may go into one of these expeditions as a check off their bucket list, but they come away with more knowledge, more interest in the field, the discipline of thinking their way through challenging situations … and always more questions than answers.”
The very place where a nine-year-old boy started his lifelong love of exploration.
Learn more at DeepBlueAdventureAndAviation.com.