"The Freedom of Aviation"

Aviation is about more than learning to fly—it's about freedom, discipline, and seeing the world from a completely different perspective. From earning a pilot's license to experiencing the peace of flying above the clouds, this conversation explores why so many pilots say there's nothing else like it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

What's the process of becoming a pilot certified just to even fly this this plane?

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Okay. So what you uh what you typically do now, if you want to be a glider pilot, you can solo at 14.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

And fly a glider. And then uh you can get your private pilot's license, then you can solo at 16 and get your private pilot's license at 17. Okay. So what you would do is go to the local airport, say, hey, I'm interested in flying. And a lot of times they'll take you up for a uh just a welcome flight or just a you know to find out if you really like it or not. And and if the juice will start flying and say, I really like this, then they will put you with an instructor and then you'll go the basic, you would learn the basic uh characteristics of flight. You know, and so you would you know go out and learn how to take off and land, take off and land, and you get that, and then you would learn probably 75% of the training is emergency procedures.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

And you learn how to fly the airplane as a result of those emergency procedures because uh when everything is going good, it's easy. But when everything is not, you rely on training.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

And so then you solo, let's say you solo at 16, and at that point you're allowed to go out by yourself. And solo means the the instructor gets out and he'll ask you to do three takeoffs, three landings. And then you've you've officially soloed. And then you work up from there. You go out and fly by yourself and do uh maneuvers that you had worked on with the instructor, and you continue your flight training with the instructor, and then you can become a private pilot at 17, and then you can take passengers at that point in time.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Okay. Now, what's the length of that process? Um, like how how long would that take? Is it a year, two years?

SPEAKER_00 1:57

That's a great question. Um, the it's the aptitude of the person. Okay. So you can take a lesson once per week, once per month. How it's designed however fast you want to do it, because if you know somebody's working, then they and they have a family, they have to work all that in. Uh and you can take ground school to accelerate that as well. Um, but it is a uh it's a uh worthy activity for achievement. I would encourage everybody to do that.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

And once you do it, if you never fly again, you've achieved something.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, for sure. For someone who's never sat in a plane, what is it about aviation that keeps you coming back?

SPEAKER_00 2:38

So every time I take off, I push the throttle in and I take off, and I just kind of uh as I look out the window and things are rushing by, and then it's magic, the plane lifts off. And of course, we know that it involves fluid dynamics and molecules and all that, but it's just I look at the out at the wing and it's like this is still unbelievable. Yeah, and the view from uh in the sky on a sunset or even a sunrise is just amazing. At times we can go above the clouds, and it's like you just want to jump out into that cotton. Yeah, you know, it's just it's surreal, it really is. And yeah, and it's and you see uh sights that you never get to see on the ground. Yeah. And it's a freedom because there's no politics, there's no law enforcement, there's no anything in the air. It's just a total freedom and a total, you know, uh a very peaceful time.