The Journey Begins

When I think about what initially sparked my interest in aviation, it’s hard to think of one single event that made me immediately decide “I’m going to learn to fly.” I think it was a combination of things. Perhaps it was the combat flight simulator games I used play as a kid not necassarily because I loved airplaines but just for fun. Maybe it was the books I read about pilots in WWII and later, WWI and the Golden Age of aviation that caused me to begin to dream. Or perhaps the desire to fly was in my blood all along since both my grandpa and uncle were pilots, though that desire lay dormant until I reached my teens. Whatever the initial inspiration,  I firmly believe this desire was God-given and that He is going to use it in my life in ways I've never even imagined if I will stay yielded to Him. 


Whether I was fully conscious of it at first or not, I was developing a love for airplanes and aviation and this sentiment continued to grow stronger throughout the next few years so that when my uncle invited me to take me flying in his beautiful blue Grumman Yankee one October day when I was sixteen, I was elated! It would be my first flight ever in a single-engine airplane and only my second flight in a general aviation aircraft! (The other, in the Wings As Eagles Piper Chieftain shortly after its purchase, I was too little to remember much about.)

We took off from Waukesha County Airport and were soon looking down on the quiet farms and golden fields below.

My uncle executed a few turns so I could get a better view of the fall colors just starting to show in the woods beneath us. Then he asked if I would like to try the controls! Would I?! Could I? I took hold of the yoke and gingerly tried a climb, descent and slight turns to the left and right. I was hooked!

Perhaps it was then that I first thought to myself, hey, this is something I could do!!! And from then on, thoughts of someday getting my flight training filled my head.

Though I had neither the time nor the money to devote to flying lessons then and wasn't even sure exactly how to get started, the idea was always in the back of my mind. It could not be forgotten. Reading numerous books by and about Lindbergh, Rickenbacker, and others only fueled the flame of desire that continued to burn in me. Whenever I heard a plane fly over, I couldn’t help looking up at it and wondering who the pilot was and where it was headed. Sometimes a plane would fly over the house for ten or fifteen minutes practicing climbs, descents, turns, slow flight, stalls, etc. and I would realize some lucky person was having a flight lesson and wish I was in their shoes.

Once, when my brother was home from college, I recall him asking me rather bluntly, “When are you going to stop reading and start flying?” The question had caught me off guard but it certainly made me think. It came back to me again and again. “When will I stop dreaming and start flying?” I asked myself. I also remembered that my uncle had cautioned me several times not to wait too long to start my flight training as school, jobs, marriage, kids, etc. have a tendency to get in the way for those who put it off too long.

With these things in mind, I began thinking earnestly about how I could work toward beginning my flight training, studying everything I could about it and saving my money. As my passion for aviation continued to grow, I began looking for ways to become involved in the aviation community. Living only twenty minutes from Oshkosh, in so many ways the aviation hub of the U.S., opportunities were abundant! I began volunteering in the library at the Experimental Aircraft Association headquarters and museum and later at EAA’s Pioneer Airport. Then I began to help with the aviation ministry out of my church called Wings As Eagles. They had just completed assembly of a Glasair Sportsman kit plane for a missionary in Cameroon, Africa and one of their pilots then ferried this little plane across the ocean to its new home! I was there the morning they departed and faithfully followed the flight online throughout the next eight days and 10 legs. I was so excited when we received the report that he’d arrived safely in Cameroon. Upon his return, hearing Mr. John Douglas, the pilot, tell about the various exciting and sometimes heartstopping things that happened during his trip was an unforgettable experience I wouldn't have missed for the world! 

I worked in the Wings As Eagles hangar whenever I could, sorting hardware, cleaning the airplanes, scrubbing floors…doing whatever needed to be done. In March-April of 2010, through a partial sponsorship from Wings, I was able to go to Cameroon myself and experience mission aviation in a foreign country firsthand! I flew in the Sportsman and watched WAE chief pilot and mechanic, Terry Rushing, reassemble an engine for another plane, also a Glasair, using only whatever tools he brought along or those the missionary with whom we were working already had.

The time I spent in Cameroon left an indelible spiritual imprint on me and that, along with reading Jungle Pilot, the story of missionary pilot Nate Saint, solidified my desire to use my pilot's license in some kind of mission aviation. I can think of no better way to use it than to help others by meeting spiritual needs as well as physical needs through use of an airplane as a tool.