An open hangar door, a new life

When a representative of the Chamber of Commerce reached out to ask if I would be willing to provide a tour of the youth program at my local airport, I agreed. I’m an agreeable sort of guy, after all. Ask anyone. They’ll back me up.

To be honest, I expected the group to be made up of a semi-interested collection of local business leaders going through the motions of learning more about their city and its assets. That’s not an uncommon thing. It’s not a negative either. Sometimes on those well-intentioned visits a light goes on, an idea forms in someone’s head, and a change occurs.

As an example, there is a very successful businessman in my area who has always recognized the airport as a significant asset of the city. Yet he generally viewed it as an asset put to use by others. It had no direct bearing on his life — until I took his son for a familiarization flight in a Cessna 152. The teenager was smitten. Which caused his dad to get more interested in what his son was so enthused about.

Today that man is a commercial rated pilot who owns an airplane and flies both locally and internationally with his family. Big things can happen if we open ourselves up to the possibilities.

That group from the Chamber of Commerce did indeed include a few disaffected business owners and managers who were essentially along for the ride. They were polite and cautiously curious, but none of them were making noises about their own personal involvement inside the airport fence.

Then there was Qayla Bailey. At just 16 years old she had more questions and a bigger smile than anyone else in the group. Her eyes lit up with every new discovery. She knew very little about aviation and readily admitted to her ignorance. But with each question and answer pairing she picked up a little more insight than she’d had to start with.

Somewhere along the way Qayla announced her intention to become an airline pilot.

Dream big, girl. Dream big.

We stayed in touch. She would text me or email me from time to time to ask questions, often seeking some minor bit of advice. I didn’t see her in person for at least a year after that first meeting, but she maintained her interest and enthusiasm.

Eventually the opportunity rolled around for Qayla and I to get airborne for a familiarization flight in that same Cessna 152. This is where I screwed up a bit. At a shade over 6 feet tall and built with a long torso I generally try to get the seat as low as possible. Even on very long cross-country flights I never used an additional cushion for comfort, as many pilots do. Qayla has the exact opposite problem. On a good day she might be 5 feet tall. One of the more diminutive pilot hopefuls I’ve flown with.

She flew well, to be honest. She held her altitude and heading better than most first timers. She was more excited than nervous. In retrospect I realized she might have flown with less effort and greater satisfaction if she didn’t have to constantly crane her neck upward to see over the panel.

Live and learn, y’all.

We covered the Four Fundamentals and a bit of sightseeing to build her confidence on that first flight. By the time we landed, she was hooked.

Some months later, something weird happened. The teacher who was handling the STEM class at the local high school quit. The school took on another teacher to fill out the year and that teacher quit, too. That left a hole in the STEM curriculum that would render the classes studying aviation and aerospace adrift. So I volunteered. For the next five months I would teach the class under the watchful eye of a substitute teacher who was qualified to teach in the public school system.

Note: While I hold five FAA certificates, have decades of experience as a flight and ground instructor, and have written numerous study guides on the topic of aviation, I do not meet the minimum requirements to teach high school students in the public school system. The substitute, who knew not one thing about aviation or aerospace, was fully qualified. If that makes you question the standards our public school systems operate under, welcome to the club.

To my great surprise, Qayla was one of my students. Not just a student, though. A shining star. A motivated young woman who carried herself with a drive that said loud and clear, “I’m on my way.”

Today, a year later, Qayla is very much on her way. She’s logged roughly 30 hours of flight instruction since we first met. She’s focused on her upcoming high school graduation followed by her enrollment in a college aviation program. She’s rolling.

So it may come as no surprise that when she texted me with an invitation to meet up at a flight school 100 miles away, I agreed to be there. I believe in supporting kids who show real promise. And so does Epic Flight Academy in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

On Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, Epic presented eight motivated young people with scholarships totaling $80,000. They will train at five different locations around the United States. Of the eight scholarships, six were for flight training, while two support A&P applicants.

Qayla was one of those recipients, taking home the Captain Judy Rice Scholarship valued at $20,000. Her mom and dad were there, along with her grandparents, an aunt, and a cousin. I’m thankful she invited me, as well. Having been present at her first day in an aircraft hangar and being trusted to serve as her first CFI for that familiarization flight, it’s been my honor to watch this girl grow from a dreamer to a doer.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Qayla’s journey is the realization that almost anyone can achieve what she has if they simply find their direction in life, commit to it, and go.

That open hangar door has led to a whole new life for one young woman. It’s been pretty good for me, too.

Congratulations to Joseph Lavdas, Wes Glaser, Anvita Kulkarni, Jack Carda, Casson Dennison, Russell Shipley, Brayden Tucker, and of course, Qayla Bailey, on your scholarships.