Never Give Up, Even When the Chance Lies in the Other Hemisphere

By Fred Zhang

“Hampton Roads Traffic, Cherokee 6577W, Solo, taking off Runway 28, Hampton Road.” Never have I ever dreamed that the day was going to come as quickly as it did. June 22nd, 2018, marked my first solo. My pursue of my dream in aviation was not as easy as others’. For one thing, I am not a US citizen; I am here on a Student Visa. For another, I did not grow up in an English-speaking country. Regardless, there I was, flying solo in the sky for the first time ever, without a trace of fear, for I knew the sky was truly my home.

Unlike many other young aviators, I did not grow up with a love of aviation in mind. In fact, I only discovered the wonder of aviation three years ago, when I was in seventh grade. I was back at home in China at that time, getting a good grade on every test was the only thing I was concerned about before the love of aviation popped up. But, once it did, it took hold of me so strongly that I feel the only thing I want to do is fly. I started to learn aviation more passionately than I have ever done with any other of my hobbies. Flight simulators became my greatest source of happiness. With simulators, I could practice what I learned. I became famous in my school because of my obsession with aviation. I related everything to aviation, so much that it became annoying to some extent. Soon, I realized flying behind a screen and keyboard was not enough for me; I needed to take flying to the actual

world. This realization led me to the most important and the best decision I have made in my entire life, to conquer the language barrier and go to a place where the sky is welcoming. Coming to the United States was the obvious decision to make. My English skill was limited; I could not even communicate with others in English, let alone talk to ATC over the radio. But, I was determined. I practiced talking to people in English, I listened to audiobooks and ATC recordings in English when I was free, I read books in English when I could. My English improved so much in the course of less than a year that people around me were amazed, all thanks to my love of aviation.

About a year had passed since I started pursuing aviation. I found the courage to tell my parents that I thought I was ready to fly. This changed their view of my love of aviation a little. In the past, they took all my efforts as something like a joke; they thought it was one of those things that a child loves for a short period of time, then forgets it completely. The conversation made them think, this is probably something, but is still far from an actual dream. They had doubted my ability to fly, for a good reason (I myself was not a hundred percent convinced that I could). I had never been in a piston engine plane before; plus, who knew how accurate flight simulators were. But,

I was grateful when they gave me the chance. They took me to Guam, the easiest place to go for a discovery flight for someone from China. They got me a Cessna 172 and an instructor to sit in the right seat, and they could sit in the back. When I took off, one feeling prevailed in me, flying is easy, and it is something I want to do for my life. I can not remember much of the details about my first flight; I was too focused on thinking how to control the plane as best as I could. I flew the plane around the island and landed the plane myself without any help from the instructor. Though they never showed it, I knew my parents were shocked, and they completely changed their mind about supporting me. Right after landing, my father bought me all the books necessary to become a pilot and told me to study them. One thing my father tells everyone these days is: “You need to learn to drive with an experienced driver in a car, but my son learned to fly all by himself outside of a plane.” I was constantly asked whether I was afraid or not; the answer is no. Yes, I knew that I had an experienced instructor on my side in case anything happened, but that was not the true answer; the true answer is I was confident enough about flying that I never thought anything bad would happen.

The flight had two effects. On one hand, I finally felt the real excitement of flying, and I was even more firm on my idea of being a pilot. On the other, my parents changed their “go to study for school” to “go to study for both school and aviation because that’s what you want to do”. With the books in hand, I discovered things that I did wrong, or not good enough. I returned to practice in flight simulators, determined to perform by the book during my next flight, if there ever was one in foreseeable future. With my mind set in coming to the US to become a pilot, my parents started actively looking for

schools in the United States, even though they were not sure that they would want me to leave for another hemisphere this early.

Exactly one year later, when I was about to finally turn 16, the age one can solo, they made up their minds to send me thousands of miles away. While I was preparing to apply for a high school, another opportunity of flight came, this time in Australia. Although it was only a normal vacation to the country, I did my best to add a discovery flight to it. I found a flight school, and off I went. I apply everything I have learned and practiced during the course of a year and applied them to the real world. This actually worked. This time I was much more natural in controlling the plane. The flight, as did the flight before it, stimulated me again. I told myself: “I could not wait another year to fly again. I need to become a pilot, so I can fly all the time.” From that flight on, until 2018, I was busily applying for high schools. I studied and passed multiple standardized tests and had multiple interviews with schools. Finally, I decided on a school in Virginia, which accepted me gladly.

When the time came, I left home and flew to Virginia to start a new life with a pilot’s dream in mind. After settling down in the new environment, I started looking for flight schools that suited me. There were not many choices around; I found a small Part 41 flight school, so that I could take the ground school course online. Foreigners who want to learn to fly in the United States need to pass a background check called Alien

Flight Student Program, run by TSA. Through this program, flight students will be thoroughly screened by FBI for any potential threats. This was an annoying process that took about 2 months. I spent the time well, however, studying through online ground school, so I would get ahead of the game. With the final permission granted (which could be withdrawn anytime they want), I finally started flying. My training took place in a 53-year-old Piper Cherokee. Though I was a little annoyed to fly such an old plane that does not even have shoulder harnesses, I fell in love with it immediately. During my first lesson, my instructor was surprised to find out that I knew how to fly that well and said he rarely finds anyone that flies so well in their first lessons, even when he was in the military. My trend of performing well on was introduced continued. The estimation of time required for my solo went from 20 to 25 hours before training, to 15 hours after a few lessons, to the final 11.2 hours, excluding the time I gained in Guam.

The time had come for my first solo. My instructor flew with me, the usual three takeoffs and landings right before the solo flight. The weather was not as good as I would have liked; storm cells were passing one by one, and a moment of sunshine could turn into lightning in the next. As I was preflighting the plane for my solo, a cell had reached us. We had to stop everything at hand, for it was a nasty one according to the radar. My instructor thought I was stressed by the look of my face, but there was more anticipation than stress in my mind. I had waited for this moment for so long. Ever since my first flight in Guam, I envisioned my first solo as being enjoyable and, more importantly, perfectly controllable. True, the weather was not favoring, but I knew I was safe because I was just hanging around in the pattern, and I believe myself to be observant enough to land quickly before the weather hit. The sky cleared out; at last, I hopped into my trusty Cherokee, started the engine, made the taxi call, and made the last wave to my instructor, who was waiting patiently near the plane. I stopped thinking about how monumental the flight was going to be, while I was taxiing down the taxiway. In fact, the same thought during my first flight in Guam came back to me, to control the plane as best as I could, and this time, by the book. I took off into the air with ease; I noticed the plane was much more “flyable” without the extra weight of my instructor. It was peaceful. There was no one nearby, except a transitioning helicopter (there was no danger because both of us had made visual contact with each other). The storm cleared most of the turbulence out, and I was soaring in the sky alone. I

had no thoughts other than what I needed to do. I did my checklists, I kept the turns coordinated, and I landed safely three times. As I pulled the mixture, my instructor approached me with a smile and cheery claps of his hands. That marked my first solo, on the 22nd of June, 2018, when I was sixteen.

I am still a student pilot right now, doing my cross-countries. And, I still find flying as enjoyable as I found it that day when I was in 7th grade, that day when my first flight took off in Guam, and that day when I flew solo for the first time. As usual for the past three years, I am again waiting, waiting for the day I turn seventeen. That day is going to be the day I become a private pilot. Like many other young aviators, I am pursuing a career in aviation. Piloting is going to be a part of it, of course. But, much more than that, I am interested in the whole industry, and that is the industry I want to put my life into.