Learning to fly

 When I was younger my dad took me to the Cleveland airshow and that started my life long passion with aviation. I remember watching the different pilots perform and dreaming about being in the airplane and performing in front of thousands of people. I never thought that I would ever actually become a pilot. Becoming a pilot just isn't something that alot of people talk about doing. I didn't even know how to start the process. So for most of my childhood and teenage years it just remained a dream in the back of my mind.

But then my senior year of high school came around. It was time to make the decision of what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I had looked at alot of different colleges but nothing was really calling out to me. Till one day my day said why don't you look into becoming a pilot. He knew that I had always dreamed of being a pilot but I never thought he would support that dream. So I started looking around to see what made the most sense. But everywhere that I looked the cost of learning to fly was well over $50,000. I didn't have that kind of money to put up front. But then I found Skypark. SkyPark is a private owned airport in Wadsworth, OH that was only a hour drive from where I lived now. They were about half the price of everywhere else that I looked and I could live at home, attend the local community college, and pursue flying all at the same time. I was now on my way to becoming a pilot.

Most kids spend the summer after graduating high school partying and getting ready to go to college. But not me. Not this summer. A week after high school was over I was off to learn to fly. I didn't want to wait another minute. I spent most of 2007 living with my grandma working on my private pilot certificate which is the first certificate you have to get on your way to becoming a commercial pilot. It required at least 40 hours of flying along with various other tasks. My goal was to have my private pilot certificate before college started up in the fall. On August 17th, 2007 I achieved that goal. To receive your private pilot certificate you have to take a checkride that consist of both a oral exam and a flying exam. It was nerve racking but I passed and I was finally a pilot. That same day I took my sister up flying. She was my first passenger.

I spent the fall of 2007 and the spring of 2008 building time towards the 250 hours that you need to get your commercial pilot certificate. When school was out in the spring of 2008 it was time to start training for the instrument rating. The instrument rating allows you to fly in the clouds with little or no visibility.This is accomplished by using the airplanes instruments to determine where you are, how high you are, and the position of the airplane. It is very demanding and many say it is the hardest checkride you will ever take. Well almost exactly a year after passing my private checkride on August 18th, 2008 I passed my instrument checkride and now I could fly in almost any weather condition.

I spent the fall of 2008 and spring of 2009 building the hours again toward my 250 hours that I needed for the commercial certificate. The commercial certificate also requires a few long cross countries to be flown. For my longest cross country I flew to Chicago and back in the same day. It was about four hours in the airplane. During the summer of 2009 me and my uncle flew his plane up to Oshkosh, WI for the  EAA Airventure which is the largest airshow in the world. It is a week long event and is a must for any aviation enthusiast. That was a fun trip and we camped out by the airplane every night. I will go back every  year that I am able. I was hoping to have my commercial done before school started in fall of 2009 but I just didn't have the chance to get it done. Between school and work it was hard finding the time to get out and fly. But finally on October 10th, 2009 I took and passed my commercial checkride and now I am a commercial pilot.

My journey isnt over though. My next step is to become a flight instructor. This requires another checkride which I think will be the hardest yet. Right now I am working on my lesson plans and studyng for the oral part of the checkride and hope to have it done early spring of 2010 so that I can teach all summer. I also will be getting my commercial glider and CFI glider next spring also so I can teach and fly gliders next summer to. I will keep everyone updated on my progress.