I'm not sure the first thing works, if I interpreted you correctly.

``` ruby
class Foo
  def self.preflight(*args)
    preflights += args
  end

  def self.preflights
    @preflights ||= []
  end
end
```
```
irb(main):010:0> Foo.preflight "bar"
NoMethodError: undefined method `+' for nil:NilClass
	from (irb):3:in `preflight'
	from (irb):10
	from /opt/boxen/rbenv/versions/2.0.0-github/bin/irb:12:in `<main>'
```