ROCK HILL, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — It’s Learn to Fly Month.
If you dream of slipping the surly bonds of Earth — and getting paid for it — there’s never been a better time.
According to reports, less than 1 percent of the world’s population will ever have their hands on the flight controls. Flying a real airplane, in flight, not a simulator. Taking command of an aircraft is THAT special.
Alyssa Keuzer knows this well.
As an aspiring airline pilot, she is gaining experience, building time, working as a flight instructor at Aces Flight School at the Rock Hill-York County Airport. Currently a 500-hour pilot, Alyssa will need to log 1,000 additional flight hours to qualify to apply to the airlines.
Her timing couldn’t be better. Reports show the civil aviation industry will require more than 260,000 new pilots over the next decade. Jet manufacturer Boeing predicts the demand for pilots throughout the globe will exceed 602,000 through 2041.
So, it’s a good time to fly. And a great time to learn to fly. Alyssa says it is rewarding to share her love of flight with student pilots.
“It’s great to see people come out here and are mesmerized by what we do as flight instructors,” she said. “They love seeing what they are used to seeing from the ground, with a different point of view. Seeing the clouds as if they could touch a cloud, they love it.”
Sounds swoon-worthy, but the reality behind the romance includes lots of study, flight and ground school, devotion, dedication and dollars. Earning your basic wings with the private pilot license typically runs around $10,000. The advanced ratings and additional certificates required for the airlines, can cost about $100,000.
Scholarships and loans are available. And most flight schools allow students to pay as you go.
Ready to get started? Find a flight school with a location close to home. There are many in the Charlotte metro area including Gastonia, Concord, Monroe and Rock Hill. Research the school, interview the flight instructors and take a Discovery Flight. That’s where you sit in the pilot’s seat, flying the plane with a Federal Aviation Administration Certified Flight Instructor by your side.
It’s an affordable introduction to what may be the beginning of an exciting new hobby or career aloft.
