Heads in the Clouds
Michele Nowacki trusts her son. But she's still a little nervous when he flies a plane.
Especially since he doesn't even drive a car yet.
"He's not even interested in driving," joked Nowacki, of Center Township. "He says 'Mom, I'm not interested in driving anything slower than 100 miles per hour.'"
Her son, Eddie, is a 16-year-old junior at Butler Senior High School. He was a yearbook photographer last year, has a paper route and played for the Highfield baseball league near Leechburg.
He also flew a plane solo for the first time on Aug. 13 at the Butler County Airport, becoming the second member of the Civil Air Patrol Squadron 712 to solo as a cadet.
"I've always been interested in flying," said Eddie, who is considering applying to the Air Force Academy after high school.
He hopes to earn his pilot's license in November after he turns 17, the minimum age to get a license. The minimum age to fly solo is 16.
He joins a growing number of teenagers ages 16 to 18 who are learning to fly.Walter Sell, chief flight instructor at Armstrong Aviation Services at McVille Airport near Freeport, said about one person per high school takes flying lessons. Although that number was much higher in the 1970s, he noted airlines are encouraging more young people to take lessons, and some flight instructors are noticing an upsurge.Sell said about half of his 12 students are teenagers.Airquest Aviation, a flight school at Butler County Airport, has between 50 and 60 flight students, ranging from 11 to 86 years old, said the company's chief flight instructor, Chris Shannon. About 15 of his students are teenagers.To earn a pilot's license, students must complete more than 40 hours in the air, including 20 hours flying with an instructor and 10 hours flying solo. A mix of night flying and cross-country flying is required with the instructor and during solo flights.Then to get a license they must take a Federal Aviation Administration written test, an oral test and a flight test.Shannon said the teenage students usually pick up on actual flying faster than the adult students, while adults tend to be better at preparing for the written test."A lot of the students are 16, and they have to work around their own schedules with school and work and everything. For them it's almost just like any other high school class, and sometimes they lag behind on the reading. But with flying, they pick it up really quick," he said.
Sell also said students learn lessons quickly. "Young people pick it up really quick. It's less repetition with them."Shannon said some students have plans to enter the aviation field. But the majority of students do not have specific plans, they just want to know how to fly."It's just something they want to do," he said.Other instructors also have noticed an increase in young pilots. Jeffrey Hartmann, the captain of Civil Air Patrol Squadron 712, noted that both cadet soloists in the squadron's 30-year history flew solo this summer.The Civil Air Patrol, the official U.S. Air Force Auxiliary, is a nonprofit, volunteer service organization made up of civilians. Squadron 712 comprises about 20 members from Butler County and northern Allegheny County. Cadets are between 12 and 18 years old.Nowacki is the second cadet to solo. The first was Alex Ubinger, 16, of Indiana Township, Allegheny County.Hartmann called it a milestone for the squadron. "Alex has made a profound breakthrough for our unit," he said.
Learning to fly requires attention to detail and plenty of studying, and it lays the groundwork for future careers. It is expensive: Flying costs between $60 and $90 per hour, depending on the type of plane. With an instructor, it can cost between $120 to $130 per hour in the air, flight students said.Add that to books, and a student can spend between $4,000 and $5,000 before taking the license exam.There are a few hours of class work involved, but many students study books and lessons on DVD on their own time. Students said they spend anywhere from five to 10 hours per week studying for the written test.Many teenage students said their parents pay most of the cost, while the teens help out with earnings from part-time jobs.Math and geography are important to preparing for a basic pilot's license, students said.But students are quick to point out the investment is worth it, and the lessons are fun.
Scott Hellberg, 17, of Sarver was dressed casually in shorts, T-shirt and sandals on a recent Saturday afternoon. Looking under the hood of the four-passenger Piper Warrior single-engine plane at the Butler County Airport, he looked like he could be fixing up an old car.Hellberg, a senior at Central Catholic High School in Oakland, has been interested in flying all his life. He began instruction at Airquest Aviation this spring, and he hopes to get his pilot's license in about three to four months.To celebrate the occasion, he hopes to rent a plane to take three of his friends on a trip to the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio."It'd be great to go up there for the day, spend the day, just hang out," said Hellberg.His summer has been filled with classes and instruction two to four times a week. He has logged about 20 hours in the air, including solo hours.He was confident around the plane during flight check, rattling off the plane's specifications. It was a clear day for flying, and he was anxious to get in the air.His mother, Janet, knows safety is a concern with young pilots, but also realizes it is Hellberg's dream."You hate to squash something he's passionate about," she said.She said her son was fascinated with the Blue Angels Navy flying group since he was 6 or 7 years old."One of the Blue Angels told him (at an air show) that there are more Angels named Scott then any other name. After that he was hooked," she said.Most teens who fly became interested early.
Thom Foster has been helping out at the Grove City Airport since he was 12 years old. While his peers were going swimming or playing video games, he was spending as much time as he could around planes.He exchanged work at the airport for glider lessons from Silent Wings Soaring, a glider instruction school there.He started out mowing lawns and picking weeds, but before he turned 13 he was helping out as a ground crew member, fueling and parking planes and helping to launch gliders.A glider is basically an airplane without an engine. A plane or a high-powered winch tows the glider along the runway until it is in the air, then it glides on hot rising air.Foster flew a glider solo on April 8, 2004 — his 14th birthday. "It was amazing," he said.Now 16, Foster works full- time at the airport during the summer and on weekends during the school year. He has soloed in a plane, hopes to get a pilot's license in the spring, and plans to become an instructor at the airport someday.If you call the Grove City Airport on a weekend, Foster answers the phone. "I'm a regular airport bum," he said.He first became interested when his grandfather, a pilot who lives near Philadelphia, took him up in his plane."That sparked my interest. I was about 3 or 4, and my grandfather took me up. When we landed my parents had to drag me out kicking and screaming: You know, I just loved it that much," said Foster.He was 12 years old when his family visited the Grove City Airport and Foster met Steve Rhule, a co-owner of Silent Wings Soaring who became one of Foster's instructors.It was clear to Rhule that Foster was interested, and thus began Foster's instruction in soaring a glider and, later, piloting a plane. Foster's other instructor is Noel Dean, also with Silent Wings Soaring."I can't imagine learning from anyone else," Foster said.Rhule even opened the glider program early in 2004 so Foster could solo exactly on his 14th birthday. Usually the airport does not host gliders until May.There has not been a glider program for the past two summers because of scheduling difficulties, said Foster. He said they are hoping to restart it in the spring.His glider lessons paid off when he learned to pilot a plane."You feel much more comfortable in the air, and you know how to be focused up there," he said.
At 16, most aviation students are focused on getting a license. Dan Matioli, 18, is looking at a career.Matioli of Sarver is a freshman in the professional pilot and air traffic controller programs at Beaver County Community College. There are about 110 other students in these programs, he said."It's a very popular place for young pilots right now. There are a lot of people looking to get into (the air traffic controller) program."Matioli is three flight hours and the written test away from getting his pilot's license. He started flight lessons this spring from Armstrong Aviation Services.He said he wishes he started flight training sooner. "I recommend to people looking at flying to start studying early. There's a lot to know," said Matioli.One of his favorite experiences was a solo flight to the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport near Latrobe, he said. It is a larger airport with an 8,000-foot landing strip. McVille's runway is less than 3,000 feet long.He was circling the airport when the tower told him to give more room to a jet on its way to the runway."I looked out the window and saw the jet coming in for a landing. I was in line to land after him. To be up with that jet, that was something," said Matioli."It's a different world up there. There's nothing like it," he added.Heather Barron, 17, is also career-minded, although not necessarily as a pilot. She wants to become an aerospace engineer.A senior at Pine-Richland High School, Barron has always been interested in planes. She discovered aerospace engineering last year during a systems engineering class, and has always had a passion for jets and design, she said.She was building a model jet in April when her father mentioned possibly taking flying lessons. She quickly embraced the idea."I never pictured myself piloting before. But as soon as I started learning I knew it was what I wanted," she said.Since April, Barron has been taking lessons three or four times a week, like most other students.She flew solo for the first time in August. "I remember my first thought taking off was 'I have to land this thing or I'm dead,'" she said.She has 14 hours in the air and hopes to get her license in about a year.Barron plans to keep that schedule while playing on her high school tennis team and being the school mascot.Next year she hopes to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla."I'm interested in designing planes. I love building things, and being creative," she said.She added she knows an engineer who tests engines until they blow up."I mean, how cool is that?" she said.
