Generation Gap

The author filled every paragraph with an actionable approach. As I meet with the good old boys in my pilots association, I am surrounded by Silents and Boomers who still want to try the old approaches. As the article says, “Yesterday’s campaigns no longer cut it.”

Pierre J. Moeser
Chesterfield, Missouri

Finding inspiration

I started learning to fly six years ago and at times I felt I could not get it. Greg Brown’s columns in Flight Training magazine help me hold on to inspiration. I am now a private pilot, single-engine land, instrument, and working toward CFI. The column still inspires.

Gary Palmer
Rancho Palos Verdes, California

As seen on Facebook

I passed my checkride yesterday! I came back to the states from Asia for six weeks to do this training, and started training five weeks ago. I hadn’t flown in nine months. It was crazy going from being a brand-new and rusty private pilot to instrument training. But being a military spouse, I gotta take what I can get and make it work, you know?
—Emily C. Brandt

Took my checkride April 28. Feels great to finally be able to reach for the stars—on my own. I started my adventure 24 years ago, but the (un)expected came in my face to delay me (Desert Storm, marriage, civilian life, divorce, motorcycle accident, and about everything else that usually hinders accomplishment). However, after a quarter century, I decided to go all in. I got checked out in the Cessna 172 and the Piper Arrow.
—Andy (Ang) Strickland

I started flying lessons after high school, trading work hours for flight instruction. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t afford it at the time. To stay in aviation, I went to work for the airlines. I eventually earned my aircraft dispatcher license while working for a regional airline in the Pacific Northwest. I was a Part 121 dispatcher for several years before moving back home to Montana, and eventually left the aviation field. A flight in a friend’s RV–12 last fall reignited that passion for flying. After gasping at the cost of flight training, my wife encouraged me to pursue my dream. I started lessons in November 2015, and just passed my checkride yesterday!
—Tony Wall

It took almost 14 months to the day, many snags along the way with work, life, a loved one passing too soon, and changing training airplanes after I purchased a Piper Cherokee PA–28-235—for which I needed my high performance rating, requiring me to solo for a second time. After all this I am proud to say that I have joined the ranks of the elite group of private pilots. It was an amazing experience with an instructor who has inspired me to be a great pilot! I am ready to continue my experience now that I have earned a “license to learn.” Can’t wait to see what this new chapter in my life will bring. Family trips, backcountry fishing, maybe even some AOPA fly-ins! Who knows? Only time will tell, but it will be a great ride.
—Gary Littell

Do you plan to take a family trip in an airplane this summer?

Yes 65%
No 35%

Aviation eBrief poll

For aviation destination ideas, find out where AOPA will host its 2016 AOPA Fly-Ins on p. 23.

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