Freshmen One Day, Pilot the Next
By Michael C.
Small Private Turbo-Propeller Airplane in Hangar by nomadsoulphotos Created in Canva
All students have probably flown paper airplanes, but Noah flies real planes. Noah is an exceptional student here at NorthStar. He balances high school with flying planes which means in his downtime he flies airplanes. This is his story.
Noah was inspired to fly planes at a very young age. His first experience around airplanes was when his family would take vacations. He says, “So in the early 2010's my family would fly out of the Memphis International Airport in Memphis, TN, which was then dominated by Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and FedEx. Seeing those inhumanly massive and powerful airplanes lifting off the ground and climbing through the clouds really inspired me to want to fly.” As Noah grew up he became more and more familiar with airplanes. The whole atmosphere of airplanes and airports felt really safe to Noah. He began to realize that his happy place was whenever he was in airplanes or airports. “After flying with my family for a long time, I finally decided that being a pilot is something that I'd unconditionally enjoy for the rest of my life. So I reached out to a flight instructor, saved up a bit of money, and went on a discovery flight.”
A discovery flight is when a flight instructor takes someone up in an airplane for an hour or two telling them about what flight training and flying will be like. Noah is yet to be legally certified, but he is three months away from getting his Student Pilot Certification (SPC for short). The SPC allows someone to fly airplanes without an instructor. If you have flown 40-60 flight hours with the SPC, your flight instructor will give you a seal of approval to be relieved from flight training. At this point in time Noah will be given a private pilot license which means that he could fly single-engined planes whenever he wanted.
Noah described the first time he flew a plane as exhilarating. “The first time I pushed the power to full and was pushed back in my seat I was mostly scared. I had only flown on simulators before, but now it was time to do the real thing. Leaving the ground was absolutely extraordinary, watching the ground and the city you live in become small and 2D. If I felt anything when I flew for the first time, it was anxiety, and pressure. A few minutes after taking off and just flying around for a bit is when it hit me, I was flying an airplane. At that point I felt in control and at ease.” Noah has flown many different types of planes. He has flown the Cessna 150, Cessna 172 Skyhawk, Cessna 182 Skylane, Cessna 210 Centurion, and most recently the Piper PA-28.
Noah’s goal is to one day become a commercial pilot. He says, “I do plan on becoming a commercial pilot because in this day and age, there is a massive shortage of airline pilots. So we are in high demand, and are 100% essential to the economy of travel. I also love the idea of being able to travel all over the world and getting to understand so many different cultures. It's a win-win career.”
While Noah’s goal is to one day become an airline pilot, he says that his dream is to start a missionary airline and flight school only for missionary pilots. Noah says, “God is a huge part of my obsession with flying, and I praise him daily for giving me all these opportunities.
Columns: 👤NSA People
Michael C. currently lives in North Carolina with three siblings and mom and dad. He has been at NorthStar for three years and has recently started writing for the Navigator. He enjoys running, reading, and geeking out about Lord of the Rings.