“Ever since I was a toddler my dad would take me up to O’Hare to watch planes,” says Mount Carmel senior Aidan McGovern. “I just kind of fell in love with planes and aviation.”
When MC seniors were applying to colleges this year, there was one usually niche profession that had a good few people looking into it, aviation. Currently at MC there are five seniors who are interested in aviation and two of them are even training to be pilots right now.
To get a pilot’s license in the United States you need to be at least 17 years old, and senior Logan Wagner and I started the process the minute we could. While we began the process early to get a head start, others like Aiden McGovern decided to wait until college to train in their flight programs.
MC itself has also encouraged involvement in aviation by installing a small simulator in the incubator room using Microsoft Flight Simulator and an Xbox, where some students like senior Jude Al-Hallaj who simply enjoy flying as a hobby can practice.
“I talked about it in class after [Mr. Scott Tabernacki] he came back from the field trip going to the aviation group,” says Al-Hallaj. “He wanted to try it out for himself, and I already knew quite a bit about simulations, so I just said this is the best. If you want to get an Xbox instead of a computer you can do that, too. We were just casually talking about it, and the next day he comes into class with a full Xbox.”
Many students have been using it and have enjoyed learning how to practice take-offs and turn using the simulator.
“It’s really nice,” says Al-Hallaj. “A lot of the kids loved it. It was no trouble setting it up so yeah it was really fun to do though. I love aviation and I’m a big aviation fan. I like learning about planes. I have my own simulation set at home and I was really happy to be able to bring that joy to someone else.”
Wagner was not satisfied with a simulator and is currently in the process of getting his Private Pilot License. He is currently in the Jerry Wayne Aviation program in Bolingbrook and flies out of Clow Airport there.
“My mom has a friend who’s son is in the program,” he says. “I did my discovery flight there and then about a week later I started taking lessons. My instructor set me up with everything I needed and then from there I try to fly twice a week.”
Wagner is really enjoying flying out there and has been working towards the ability to fly the plane by himself.
“It’s awesome,” he said. “Right now I’m prepping for my first solo and just doing lots of takeoff and landing work. More and more patterns. Giving out the calls. When I first started I was super shy so I would screw it up all the time. Now that I did it more it got easier.”
Wagner also intends to pursue this as a career and wants to be an airline pilot one day.
“I am going to do it after high school,” he said. “I want to do aviation in college, and that’s what my intended major is.” Wagner has applied to and is considering Purdue, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Auburn to pursue that major.
I too plan on majoring in aviation and have applied to these same schools. A large reason why we want to go to these schools is that if we graduate from these programs only 1000 flight hours are required to be eligible to be a first officer at an airline compared to the standard 1500.
Though it will be a long process this year, getting lessons is often dependent on other factors like the weather or the plane itself.
“I have been pretty slow with my lessons. I get canceled a lot because of maintenance,” said Wagner. “Somethings always wrong with the plane I’m about to fly. I’ll get a text at like 6 a.m., and it will be like, ‘We can’t fly today, the brakes are broken’ or something.”
In my experience, getting canceled due to weather is a very common part of flight training, especially in the winter months.
Another student who is at the finish line and will have his Private Pilot’s License in just weeks is senior Seth Mendoza.
“I started doing camps and stuff when I was twelve,” said Mendoza. “I started taking it seriously when I was like fourteen or fifteen. It’s a different kind of fun. It’s just there is so much to learn it kind of never stops, and it’s something unique, too. Not a whole lot of people do it.”
Mendoza is a three-time state champion wrestler, and flying even influenced his choice in committing to the University of Missouri for wrestling.
“That’s my dream goal is being a commercial pilot in general,” said Mendoza. “I had to pick the right spot where to go and that was the right spot.”
While he will be flying recreationally during wrestling season, he will not start working his way toward gaining his next license until after springtime when wrestling is over.
Starting their journey early is going to be a big advantage for these guys when heading off to the college of their choice. These men are on their way to become professional pilots and maybe they might just take a classmate or two for a ride sometime soon.
