Albert Ueltschi is a pilot with an estimated net worth of $2.1 billion as of September 2012 according to Forbes. In the 2012 “Forbes 400” list, he is ranked 229th. He was ranked 683rd in the list of World Billionaires. Born Albert Lee Ueltschi on May 15, 1917 in Frankfort, Kentucky, he has developed a passion for flight after he heard a radio broadcast of the 1927 transatlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh. In order to raise money and support his flying lessons, he opened a hamburger stand named “Little Hawk.” At 16, Ueltschi was already making solo flights.

He was a drop out of the University of Kentucky after he decided to give flying lessons and barnstorm around the country. He then became a pilot for Pan America. In 1951, he founded FlightSafety International, an aviation training company. He took the company public in 1968. He then sold the company in 1996 for $1.5 billion in stock to Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway. He still maintains his holdings in the firm while honoring his pledge to Buffet that he would do so. Albert Ueltschi is also the Chairman Emeritus of one of the largest blindness charities in the world, Orbis International. He co-founded HelpMeSee along with his son, James. It is an organization which aims to directly fund surgeons who perform low-cost lens replacement surgery for blind individuals in developing countries and to train 30,000 cataract specialists in Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery.