Flight Plans and Finals

By Kyathi Uyyala

College and flight school are huge fulltime commitments.

I can say that from experience; I’m an 18-year-old Private Pilot pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a minor in Aviation Logistics at the University of North Texas. I began my college journey in August 2023 while concurrently pursuing my Private Pilot’s License, which I obtained on February 9, 2024!

Now, along with being in my second semester, I’m working towards my Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot’s License. My schedule is packed with 18 credit hours of courses, alongside flight lessons 3-4 times a week, each lasting 3 hours.

Outside of these two commitments, I’m an ambassador is a lot that goes into it. Before getting into the planning aspect, you need two very important things.

First and foremost, having a support system is crucial. For me, that support is my father, Prabhakar.

Not only does he fund my flight training and college, but he also provides me with a lot of encouragement.

As an Indian girl, most parents would just say to finish college and not go into aviation, but he supports my dreams, for which I am super thankful. He always tells me not to listen to all the people who try to discourage me by saying things like “It’s unnecessary, just get your degree and get a normal job. You don’t need to do more.”

He is also part of the reason I got into aviation. He was in training to become a mechanic in the Air Force but ended up not being able to due to personal reasons. Growing up, I loved listening to his stories about the Air Force; this is what sparked my initial interest in aviation.

Equally important is having the motivation to do it all. Aviation and my college degree are both things I need for my future. There are a lot of things that motivate me to reach my goals. One of them is my role models—I’m so thankful for them as not only do they inspire me, but they also do their best to help me.

One of my biggest role models and my mentor is Beth Ramirez Jurado, the founder of Women With Wings. She flies the Learjet 60 and does many things outside of aviation, including pageants, art, and more! Hearing about all her accomplishments serves as a reminder that I too can reach my goals with dedication and perseverance. She always checks in on me and answers any questions I have! I greatly appreciate her help!!

Now that we’ve talked about laying a foundation for success, let’s cover how to manage schedules to encompass everything. Different things work for different people; it might take a while to find what specifically works for you, but when you find it, it will be worth it!

The first thing in time management is setting goals. Even though it is super cliché to say “set goals,” I recommend you do it; working tirelessly without a goal in mind won’t take you far. They can be small goals such as setting a certain day you want to be done with a lesson or mastering a maneuver by.

Keep in mind that goals are set to work towards, and while you should aim to meet them, it’s okay to not reach them all the time. I had a goal to finish my first stage check by spring break, but I didn’t reach it. I was off by a few lessons due to miscalculating how busy I would be in college. I realized I wouldn’t reach the goal closer to the date, but the feeling that I might not make it pushed me to work harder that week.

Another crucial aspect of managing such a packed schedule is prioritization. With college courses, flight school, ambassadorships, CS projects, and volunteering, I’ve learned that by identifying my top priorities and allocating time accordingly, I can maintain balance.

I prioritize college over everything else by ensuring that I first take care of all things related to college. I’ve adopted a very helpful approach to staying on top of coursework. I use a planner and make sure to write down all my assignments due. Then, I organize things by urgency and note how long each one will take. By staying organized and disciplined, I can effectively manage my academic workload while also making progress in everything else.

Last semester, I overloaded my schedule. I was always either at flight school, college, or doing homework. I didn’t give myself any breaks. Although I got a lot of training done, it wasn’t an effective way to learn. I wasn’t able to properly retain any of the information I was learning.

Looking back, I was constantly on the run to catch my next class or lesson. I would not recommend doing this. Now, I make sure to keep a few hours a day to go over all the information I learned and to catch my breath. This way, I have time to refresh on topics before going into lessons. It has made such a big difference. I don’t train as much as I want to currently, but I am understanding what I’m learning better.

I allocate time to work on everything else aside from flight school and college after I plan both of those out. I assign a specific amount of time towards my CS projects, my ambassador work, and I volunteer mainly on the weekends.

With everything going on, it’s crucial to realize that sometimes things can get crazy busy. I cannot stress how important taking breaks is, even if it means hitting pause on something you were looking forward to doing.

This happened to me as soon as I got back from SUN ‘n FUN. I was bombarded with college assignments, multiple exams, and a ton of work for my CS projects. As much as I hated to do it, I had to take a break from flight school for two weeks to catch up. It’s a reminder that no matter how organized you are, there are moments when you just have to step back to keep everything in check.

With these tips, I hope you are able to take away a few things that you can implement into your schedule to help you.