Spending the summer learning how to fly
Hiking, boating and learning to fly an airplane.
If the last option doesn’t sound like a typical summer activity, that’s because it’s not. However, Noah Carroll, flight instructor at Leading Edge Aviation, said a surprising number of USU students and Logan residents use their summer to obtain a private pilot’s license.
“It’s an alternative for USU students who want to fly, but are getting their degree in something besides aviation,” Carroll said. “You do full training at (Leading Edge), but this way you can get a degree in whatever you want and still get a pilot’s license.”
Carroll said they see an even mix of people who are looking to pursue aviation as a career and those who just want to fly as a hobby. Nick Thomas, also a flight instructor at Leading Edge Aviation, said he chose to get his certification through Leading Edge because of the flexibility.
Thomas said he has been interested in being a pilot since he was a kid and began flying when he was 16 years old. Currently, Thomas is a member of the National Guard and a full-time student majoring in law and constitutional studies.
“The flexibility with this program has been awesome for me,” Thomas said. “I do classes in the morning, work here from about 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. and fly about two to three times a week, so it’s worked well with my school schedule. It hasn’t impeded on my studies at all.”
Thomas said he gets most of his flying hours done in the summer and sees a lot of other students following that same path because it is convenient.
What will it cost prospective pilots to get their license? Carroll said a private pilot’s license costs around $8,500 to $10,000, depending on how frequently students fly. Carroll said it’s cheaper than what USU aviation majors pay because students are not getting a four-year degree along with it. Another difference, Carroll said, is the type of payment.
“It’s not a tuition thing,” he said. “Our students pay as they go, rather than all at once.”
For students who may cringe at the price, Thomas said there are lots of options with financing. From grants to loans, Thomas said students who are really interested usually find a way to make it work.
How fast students get done, Carroll said, is up to the student.
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires 40 hours of flying time for private pilot certification,” Thomas said. “Usually people get it done in 45-50 hours, but we’ve had people do 40 hours in three weeks. Then there are people who do 50 hours over a span of a few years. There’s no requirement for time span, it just comes down to your devotion to it.”
However, before getting up in the air, Carroll said there are a few steps students must take to ensure safe flying.
Typically, Carroll said people looking to get their private pilot’s license first must go through computer courses, instructor-given tests and sit down with an instructor to review what they have learned. Potential pilots must also have a required physical exam, which Thomas said is usually given by a local doctor that specializes in the aviation physicals.
One misconception, Thomas said, is that pilots must have perfect eyesight in order to fly a plane.
“In reality, it doesn’t have to be perfect,” he said. “It just has to be correctable to 20/40. Lots of pilots wear glasses or contacts.”
Once these steps are completed, Carroll said students are cleared for flying.
“It’s really not as complicated as people think it is,” said Cory Schow, assistant chief flight instructor at Leading Edge and USU alumnus, as his four-seat Cessna ascends thousands of feet over Cache Valley.
The stunning bird’s eye view offers a unique perspective of the landscape below and is the reason, Schow said, in addition to being a training site, Leading Edge also offers an unforgettable date night.
For $90, anyone can go on a discovery flight, which Schow said is a half-hour sampling of what flying a plane is like.
“We get people who want to see if flying is for them and we also get people who just want to sit back and enjoy it with their date,” Schow said. “We can take people up during sunset and if you mention this article, we can even give you $10 off the discovery flight.”
While soaring thousands of feet above ground level in a small four-passenger plane may not seem like something for the faint of heart, Thomas said it is extremely safe. In addition to backup systems designed to keep working even after one fails, Thomas said there is a huge emphasis on emergency preparedness when learning to fly a plane.
“There is a lot of redundancy when you’re learning. As a pilot, flying a plane is like riding a bike,” Thomas said. “It’s pretty easy – the biggest part is learning what to do in case of emergency. That’s what all this training is for.”
Logan offers a unique setting for pilots-in-training, Thomas said, due to the air density and high altitude.
“A lot of people that learn to fly at sea-level don’t know how to handle certain situations that we deal with here at higher altitudes,” Thomas said.
After receiving private pilot certification and instrument ratings, Thomas said pilots are able to work toward commercial certification and a future career in aviation.
“The outlook for commercial pilots is great,” Schow said.
According to an article in Plane and Pilot Magazine, there is a demand for up to 10,000 captains a year and the numbers show no sign of slowing down.
Schow said the reason the outlook is so good is because many pilots are retiring and people are continuing to fly at large rates.
Thomas said commercial certification entails lots of training, but will provide students for a stable job opportunity in the future.
“For every commercial pilot, the flying part is pretty easy. You’re paid to be sitting there in case something goes wrong, and it’s pretty routine for something to go wrong,” Thomas said. “As a passenger, you usually don’t even notice because the pilot is on top of it. They’re just small hiccups when you’ve been trained. With training at (Leading Edge), those standards are expected of us.”
–amanda.m@aggiemail.usu.edu