Flying in the face of COVID

Like almost everything else in the year 2020, flight training in most areas took a pause as the coronavirus manifested and then—more gradually in some states and more rapidly in others—resumed, usually with masks, disinfectant wipes, and hand sanitizer. One casualty was AOPA’s annual Flight Training Experience Awards, replaced for this year with the Flight Training Experience Project, in which flight schools were invited to submit videos showing how schools, instructors, or students were inspired by or used aviation to inspire others; used aviation to support the broader community; demonstrated resilience in the face of adversity; or overcame adversity to accomplish a goal.

More than 80 videos were submitted by nearly 50 different flight schools. Two recurring themes emerged: Why I fly, and how I fly during this time of COVID-19. The best debuted at the virtual Redbird Migration in October and can be viewed online (aopa.org/fttrainingexperience).

Remy Oktay’s story goes far beyond the short, bemasked video submitted by Take Flight Aviation, his flight school at Orange County Airport in Montgomery, New York, in which he says he and his sister are learning to fly so they can spend more time with their grandfather.

“We grew up with my grandfather having a plane the entire time we’ve been alive,” Remy said. His grandfather, Sevgin Oktay, would fly Remy and his sister, Chloe, to soccer tournaments or on family trips to Martha’s Vineyard and other destinations. “It was something I was always interested in, but I never considered learning to fly myself.”

When Remy finished his freshman year as an engineering student at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, he was told summer internships are very uncommon for first-year students. “I thought it would be a cool idea to learn how to fly, and open the doors to whatever aviation might bring my way,” he said. “I want to spend more time flying with my grandfather. He gets so much joy from flying. It’s a cool way to connect with this passion that my grandfather has had for the past four decades.”

Remy, 20, had suggested the idea last Thanksgiving, and his grandfather loved it. “He very graciously offered to pay for our training,” and that became their Christmas gift for the year. The local flying club wasn’t accepting new members because of the pandemic, but the pair found Take Flight was offering training with appropriate precautions.

With a flexible summer schedule, Remy began on June 22, and earned his private pilot certificate September 19. His sister, 24, had a busier summer schedule and in early October was planning her solo cross-countries.

More than 80 videos were submitted to the Flight Training Experience project.Chloe hasn’t always wanted to be a pilot. “But it’s been something I’ve been doing with my grandfather for a very long time. It’s a happy memory,” she said, recalling a flight around age 4 when her grandfather asked her to hold the wings level. “I have very fond memories of my grandfather flying up to pick me up, to surprise my parents on a fall break. Now that Remy and I are older, the circumstances turned out to be perfect. I wouldn’t wish this pandemic on anyone ever again, but it provided us with a very unique opportunity.”

The siblings trained on the same schedule when they could, and usually called their grandfather on the drive home from the airport. “Chloe and I would tell him all the things we learned that day, and discussed his experiences doing similar maneuvers,” Remy said. “That was a really cool aspect of it.”

“We’ve heard stories from our grandfather’s life that we had never heard before. It’s opened up the door to conversations and experiences that we might not have had,” Chloe added. “I feel it’s brought us all closer, in a respect. Our grandfather is just this vast wealth of knowledge when it comes to flying.”

Sevgin’s interest in aviation goes back 75 years, to his childhood in his native Turkey. In 1963 he began flying lessons during his lunch hour, at an airport near his office in New York. He earned his private pilot certificate in 1968, adding commercial, instrument, and seaplane ratings. Sevgin has owned several airplanes over the years, currently has a Cessna Turbo 182, and has flown to Alaska, the Bahamas, and Nova Scotia, among other destinations.

He is incredibly proud of their decision to learn to fly. “I was hoping that one of these days they would come up to me and say, ‘We would like to be pilots.’ That’s exactly what happened,” Sevgin said. “They are adapting themselves to new situations, ever since they were kids. One of the reasons is they’ve had the opportunity to do things out of the ordinary—like fly in small airplanes. It’s very important that we introduce our kids to all parts of our lives, and aviation should be a part of that.”

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