When Cory Suttle took a new job with the Lakeland Police Department in Florida, he didn’t realize to what heights his career would take off.
Appointed the department’s resource officer at the Central Florida Aerospace Academy on the SUN ‘n FUN campus at Lakeland-Linder International Airport (KLAL), he rediscovered his love of aviation — and earned his private pilot certificate.
Suttle, 34, says being a pilot helps tremendously in his job.
“I can speak their language,” he says of the students at the school.
As a resource officer, Suttle’s job is “to maintain the safety and security of the school and work to build relationships with the kids and law enforcement to foster a good relationship between them.”
Even before his new job at the airport, Suttle had a passion for aviation.
“My grandfather really lit the flame for aviation when I was a kid. He learned to fly in 1940. I never went flying with him, but he took me to fly RC airplanes,” he recalls. “And that exposure to it started it, and then I always wanted to get my certificate. I put it off, saying I’d do it when I had enough money or enough time. When I started working at the Aerospace Academy and was immersed in aviation, I told myself there’s no excuse now.”
Tim Carver, a friend from the airport, became his flight instructor. Suttle soloed in December 2019.
“I’m still early enough in my flying portion of my life that I don’t know exactly what I want to do,” he says.
Once he earns his commercial ticket, he wants to learn to fly helicopters and – hopefully – fly helicopters for law enforcement one day.
“Or if we end up with a full-time unit at Lakeland Airport, I’ll probably transfer out and work the airport on the law enforcement side and just fly for fun or get a side job flying,” he muses.
He has a few more cross-country flights before taking his instrument check ride, he adds.
“I’m going to have a few months off before I go for the commercial rating,” he notes. “I’m going to try to get a couple of ratings in between there. I want to get tailwheel, and complex, and high-performance. And seaplane is one of the things I want to do as well. Living here in Polk County with 554 lakes, being able to fly from lake to lake definitely sounds like a good time.”
“I don’t plan to ever get to a point where I stop learning. So if there’s a rating or an endorsement that I can go get, I would like to go do it, anything that can make me a better, more efficient pilot.”
He hopes to one day own his own plane.
“I want to be able to say that’s my airplane, but I’ll fly just about anything right now,” he says.
“I like to get into an airplane to go fly to grab a bite to eat. I’m a big fan of the $100 hamburger. On the utilitarian side, if I’m facing a 10-hour drive, then taking a four-hour flight seems like a far better option.”
Learning how to fly has done a lot in helping him interact with students, he says.
“My school is a very specialized school. It’s centered around aviation, so being a pilot helps quite a bit because now I speak the language of aviation. I can help them. I can sit in the Aerotech class and the ground school class, and I can talk to them about it. Especially if I see someone struggling, I can help and mentor a student. It’s a great way for me to build rapport with them because I’m passionate about the same things they are.”
Solo to Success
In November 2020, Suttle was honored at the Central Florida Aerospace Academy’s Solo to Success Celebration with 23 students and alumni of the school.
This was the seventh year for the solo celebration. Each person who has soloed an airplane in the last year gets to place a brick with their name on it at the entrance to the school.
The celebration’s keynote speaker was student Aron Yichye, who convinced his family to move to Lakeland from New Jersey so he could attend CFAA. Aron, who said he was inspired to fly after a Young Eagles flight at age 10, soloed on March 21, 2020.
“Today we celebrate our achievement of our first solo flight from tremendous help from the James C. Ray Scholarship Foundation,” he began. “Unfortunately, I never had the honor to meet James Ray myself, but from those who knew him I understand that he believed very strongly in the power flight training has on youth. Working toward solo flight forces us to be disciplined and allows us to see our dreams progress and eventually come to fruition. This fundamental understanding he had inspired him to provide scholarships to provide us the opportunity to be able to solo an aircraft on our own. Don’t let success go to your head and never let failure get to your heart.”
Aron didn’t forget his family in his speech.
“I owe the biggest thanks to my family for nursing this crazy desire of mine to defy Isaac Newton’s basic laws. Thank you for helping us get our dreams off the ground.”
