It’s a beautiful day outside, the sky is a beautiful light blue, birds are flying by, and there are clouds that dot the sky. Suddenly you hear the familiar buzzing of an airplane flying by, you look over and you can see it fly into your view leaving behind a singular stripe of white as it goes by.
“I thought it was so cool” Senior Brendan Wolski said, remembering how he felt as a kid watching planes go by.
Brendan is on the track to getting his private pilot license as of early 2020.
“I took a discovery flight at the airport on my 16th birthday and it blew my mind and I wanted to try it, so I got a job and took up aviation,” Wolski said.
“A discovery flight is your first lesson, it is simply a lesson where the pilot takes you up and introduces you and makes sure you’re interested in this,” Wolski said. “It was sick. It went really well, extremely fun. He took me up and he explained everything and showed basic maneuvers. Basically showing everything you would be doing in your training.”
“[I fly a] Cessna- 152, it is a small 110 horsepower aircraft designed for two people. It’s not very fast but it’s very fun,” he said.
Wolski flies a Cessna-152, a small 110-horsepower aircraft designed for two people. “It’s not very fast, but it’s very fun,” he said.
“Well when I fly I can’t stop smiling, it’s honestly one of the most fun experiences in my life, from the rush of takeoff all the way to busy landings. When I’m up there everything looks more beautiful and you can see for miles on a clear day, on most days you can see the Chicago skyline all the way from Merrillville.”
Wolski got a job working as a busboy to save money for his lessons.
“I worked long hours on almost every weekend,” he said. “I would rush from school somedays to make it on time to be able to earn money to be able to do what I love. It was hard at times but I’d say it’s paid off.”
Wolski plans on turning his passion into a career.
“The goal is to go to college and get my degree in professional aviation and get my commercial license to fly for a big company.”