Why We Fly

Light sport is pilot's ticket to ride

Chris Hiatt could be a poster pilot for the light sport aircraft movement. After all, LSA and the sport pilot regulations helped Hiatt become an aviator, assisted by a nurturing aviation community.

Hiatt was born in 1967 in central Indiana, the son of a crop duster. His earliest flying memory is being about 5 years old, sitting in his dad's lap in the cockpit of a Stearman, flying low and slow. He loved it, and his dream to fly was born. As often happens, life's realities are not always in concert with our dreams. At age 19, Hiatt enlisted in the U.S. Army and later would marry and raise a family. He couldn't fly in the service because his eyes are color deficient.

In 2002, while stationed in Texas, Hiatt went to a local airport and took flying lessons in a Cessna 150. He flew for 14 hours but didn't get to solo. Flying went on the back burner for three more years until Hiatt heard about the sport pilot category. He knew at once that a sport pilot certificate could be a realistic and affordable goal. He wanted to fly a taildragger, because he just felt this was "real" flying for him-low, slow, fun, and with stick and rudder. "Low and slow was what Orville and Wilbur had in mind when they departed Kill Devil Hill," he says, laughing. He also figured he could acquire an airplane much more economically. As for sport pilot training, Hiatt is a firm believer of "train for the mission." He says, "A sport pilot is as well trained for his/her mission as a 747 pilot is trained for his."

Hiatt initially had some problems finding an instructor. In 2005 he met Anthony Johnson, a medical doctor and CFI in Winfield, Kansas. Hiatt wanted to fly, and Johnson wanted to help him. The doctor bought an Aeronca Champ and began training Hiatt. Johnson allowed Hiatt to purchase the Champ by making payments over a year.

Hiatt soloed on January 6, 2006, after eight hours in the logbook. On March 31, he took his checkride with Karen Monteith of the Wichita, Kansas, Flight Standards District Office. Hiatt flew the Champ 210 hours that year. When he received notification of a possible deployment with the Army, he decided to sell the airplane so that it wouldn't be a problem for his wife at home. When the deployment was delayed, he went hunting for another Aeronca and bought his current airplane, an Aeronca Chief, in April 2007, and to date has more than 140 hours in the Chief.

Hiatt's most recent dream accomplishment was flying the Chief to EAA AirVenture 2008 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He made the trip accompanied by a buddy who flew his own Chief. His next dream-a biplane, perhaps? "Aerobatics are fun, but low and slow is better," Hiatt says. He also loves flying into small airports "where you can taxi your airplane down the street to the hotel," or to fly to visit family in Arkansas. Flying in the Midwest can be mighty friendly, he says.

Hiatt acknowledges that he couldn't have accomplished the dream without the people who were behind him: Johnson, Monteith, and the Ponca City Airport fliers who have supported him all along, among others. With them, Hiatt was able to make his dream his reality: low and slow, just for fun, with the stick in his hands and his feet on the rudders, dancing with the air.

Mimi Stauffer is a co-owner of Golden Age Aviation Inc., publisher of The Oklahoma Aviator.