Birthday Bonanza

Frank and Sarsfield grew up around general aviation. Their fathers, Jim Frank and Mike Sarsfield, raised their sons with a love for aviation and have worked hard to prepare the teens for taildragging adventures of their own.

“I’ve grown up in the back seat of a Super Cub. [Ever] since I was 3 years old, I’ve been in the airplane with Dad,” said Frank.

On March 13 and 14, Frank and Sarsfield each marked their sixteenth birthdays with another rite of passage: completing eight first solos between them in two fast-paced days.

Frank, a day older than Sarsfield, awoke bright and early on the morning of March 13, his mission to solo his dad’s Piper Super Cub and North American T–6 Texan, as well as a borrowed Piper J–3 Cub and an Aeronca Champ.

Once the Frank family arrived at their hangar at Peach State Aerodrome, Frank and his dad started prepping the Super Cub and T–6 for Frank’s solo. Although Frank soloed a glider at 14, he was eager to solo an airplane as soon as he was eligible.

Frank made three takeoffs and three textbook full-stop landings, taxied back to the hangar, and parked the Super Cub. As soon as he stepped away from the aircraft he was met with hugs, handshakes, and slaps on the back from onlookers. But Frank was in no mood to celebrate just yet. He was fixated on the second airplane on his list: the North American T–6 Texan.

The Texan, a notoriously difficult airplane to fly, didn’t seem to faze Frank thanks to months of intense training with warbird flight instructor and designated pilot examiner Alan Miller.

“He picked it up really [quickly],” said Miller. “I haven’t been doing much flying in T–6s lately and he was landing it better than me…almost immediately which kind of bummed me out a little bit, but that’s the reality. It’s good to have a student that can do that.”

With the Super Cub and T–6 flights behind him, Frank was ready to tackle his next airplane: a classic J–3 Cub belonging to Peach State Airpark resident Harry Ballance. Although a fuel shutoff issue delayed the flight by an hour, the maintenance item allowed Frank to take a short break while airframe and powerplant mechanics Jacob Gates (who doubled as one of Frank’s flight instructors) and Ryan Walters fixed the issue.

With the end in sight, Frank hopped into his fourth and final airplane of the day, Miller’s Aeronca Champ. After three uneventful takeoffs and landings in the Aeronca, Frank climbed out of the airplane where all three of his instructors—Miller, Ballance, and Gates—were waiting with pinking shears to cut his shirttail.

Second set of firsts

To start March 14 off right, Sarsfield’s family and friends gathered inside the warm FBO and enjoyed a birthday breakfast with him before the day’s excitement began. The first aircraft on Sarsfield’s solo list was his beloved Super Cub. A self-proclaimed “backcountry nerd,” Sarsfield said, “Part of my backcountry adventure is getting to solo a Super Cub, so [I’m] definitely excited [and] a little bit nervous.”

Dozens of hours in the airplane with Gates lent themselves to three buttery-smooth, full-stop landings for Sarsfield and the Super Cub. After taxiing back to the hangar and shutting down the airplane, Sarsfield was met by friends and family chanting his name. Without delay, Sarsfield made his way to the second airplane on his list and one of his dad’s most prized possessions: an Aeronca Chief. “[The Chief is] a family legacy,” said the elder Sarsfield, who has owned the airplane for more than 35 years. “Out of the four airplanes it’s by far the touchiest one to fly.”

“It was so cool to watch him fly [the Chief] all by himself,” said his father. “He did a wonderful job [with] it.”

Sarsfield and Gates then made their way to the Candler Field Flying Club hangars to retrieve Sarsfield’s next two airplanes: an Aeronca Champ and a Cessna 172.

Sarsfield’s dream of being able to take to the runway on his own on his sixteenth birthday was almost squashed by a medical hang-up.

“Adam was born profoundly deaf,” said Sarsfield’s dad. “He was bilaterally implanted with cochlear implants at the age of 3 and 4. For his first class medical (granted three days prior), he had to get a statement of demonstrated ability. Through miracles that I don’t even know…and friends and doctors that were passionate about [Adam] having his medical for his sixteenth birthday, [we] pulled this off.”

Sarsfield made three smooth takeoffs and landings in the Champ and headed out for his fourth and final solo in an airplane quite different from the others—a Cessna 172. Although the Skyhawk is a common aircraft for student pilots to solo, it’s not as common as taildragger solos on Peach State Aerodrome’s 2,400-foot grass strip.

Without hesitation, Sarsfield called out, “Clear prop!” and waved to family and friends as he taxied by.

“I want to thank the gang out at Peach State Aerodrome. I have learned so much from them and from everyone. Now I get to fly on my own.”

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