Why I Pushed Myself

By Eric Zapien

Hello my name is Eric Zapien, I am currently in college to become an Airframe & Powerplant mechanic. I have been in aviation for almost four years now and have grown so much in that time. I have over 60 hours of flight time and strive further everyday to move forward to one day become a pilot.

I grew up in Salinas, California, where I have faced many hardships and struggles. At my current age of 20 I feel I have surpassed the expectations I had for myself when I was younger. From the moment I first went up in the air I knew I had to fly.

From there I let go of my addictions as well as my associations with wrong crowds and devoted myself to school. I went to four different high schools before finding the Bob Hoover Academy. Graduating was never something I believed I would be able to accomplish until I started flying. Every week at the Bob Hoover Academy our grades and assignments were looked over to see if we could be put on the flight schedule for the following week. Every week I pushed myself harder to get more time in the air. I worked full time at my local FBO, was a full time high school student, took at least one community college class each semester and on top of all that I still managed to fit flying in my schedule. That single hour out of such a demanding and repetitive schedule was amazing. For that hour in the air each week I felt as though I could breathe. The feeling of being weightless, in control, and free reminded me why I pushed myself. My flight path has not come without its own set of struggles either. Being taller and overall bigger than others in my class I did not fit in the school’s Cessna 152. A Cessna 172 had to be rented for me to fly and due to that it would be hard to keep up with others in the class that could fly once, twice, or even three times a week. My plane would go down for maintenance consistently restricting me from flying that week and sometimes the following as well. That would create an inconsistency on my path of learning holding me back unlike others in my class. It is also odd to most people that someone with over 60 hours of flight time has yet to solo. I have to explain that the Bob Hoover Academy has to be thorough with their students. It is already hard enough to explain how I got to fly for free through an amazing high school!

My goals are to obtain my private pilot’s license after my A&P certificate. Upon getting my private pilot’s license I would like to continue getting certificates and rating to become a charter pilot. I would like to thank Sean Tucker, Stacey, and my flight instructor Carol for believing in me. I would also like to thank my teacher Mr. Lamonea for teaching me how to believe in myself.