Why We Fly

Name: Randy Danielson Age: 32 Certificates: Private pilot with instrument rating Flight time: 220 hours Aircraft flown: Cosmos Trike Dream 220; Cessna 152, 172 Home airport: Twin Oaks Airport (7S3) Hillsboro, Oregon

When Randy Danielson was 3, his grandfather took him for his first helicopter ride in a Brantley B-2B. A photograph of the happy event (inset) shows Grandpa Arden wearing the proud smile of a pilot who has just discovered his grandson loves to fly; a pint-sized Randy, sitting beside him, looks slightly awestruck. He does not remember the flight, adding that his first memory of flying was at age 5, when Grandpa Arden gave him a helicopter lesson in a Hughes 500. But that early picture of a small blonde boy with a captivated expression speaks volumes.

Coming from a flying family--his dad, three uncles, and his grandfather all held pilot certificates--there was probably no question that Randy would fly. He took helicopter and fixed-wing lessons on and off throughout his childhood and often took rides with his grandfather. The family spent some time in Alaska and the Yukon, where he flew with a bush pilot friend to a mining camp in a Cessna 206. At age 17, Randy and his father took lessons and were checked out in a Cosmos Trike Dream 220 ultralight and spent a week flying over the hills in Southern California.

Yet in spite of Randy's passion for flight, he stopped flying after graduating from high school. Putting himself through college and trying to get a computer programming business off the ground did not leave much time or money for flying.

In 2002, his grandfather was diagnosed with cancer. This was devastating news, as Randy had always believed he would get his private pilot certificate and fly with his grandfather again. That summer, Randy took a helicopter flying lesson--his first in a long time--and soon after visited his grandfather, where they talked about helicopters. Later that day, his grandfather said, "I had no idea Randy still loved flying so much. When I get better, we're going to take the helicopter out together and fly the rotors off." Arden Danielson died in December 2002 before they could take that flight.

In January 2003, Randy made up his mind to get his single-engine fixed-wing pilot certificate. He promptly found a flight instructor and began flying in earnest, scheduling lessons after work and on weekends. That July he earned his private pilot certificate; the instrument rating followed in March 2005. He is now planning to get a flight instructor certificate, with the ultimate goal of someday adding a rotary-wing rating to his fixed-wing certificate. He undoubtedly would have become a certificated pilot at some point, but losing his grandfather helped him to realize how important it is to do what you love and spend time with those you love.

Randy's enthusiasm for flight is contagious, and he shares it with everyone he knows. His wife now has nearly 30 hours in a Cessna 152 with hopes of earning her certificate. Randy also loves to take his sister, brother, uncles, and cousins for flights whenever he can, and his passion for flying may inspire a whole new generation of pilots in his family.

By Teri Danielson

Teri Danielson is a student pilot in Portland, Oregon. She is a plant manager at a food manufacturing plant.