Flying high: student pilots take highway to danger zone
From teenagers taking lessons to building planes for fun, students who enjoy the sky
Emily Breiner
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Focus
The sky is cloudless.
Junior Joe Rinaldi sits alone in the cockpit looking down on the city. All is silent with his headset on.
He says when he is up there, he feels a commanding presence over the city; a sense of complete freedom.
Rinaldi started taking lessons at age 16. He says no one inspired his piloting career. He saw "Top Gun" when he was 4 years old and wanted to fly since.
"I was the youngest in my flight class," Rinaldi says. "When I landed after my first solo flight at 17, snow was completely covering the runway. I was elated."
Landing, even more than flying, Rinaldi says, is the greatest thrill among aviators and can be more dangerous than being airborne.
"The second time I flew solo, the left wheel strut collapsed," Rinaldi says.
He was nervous when he first started flying.
"I've had an instructor and a friend die," Rinaldi says. "There's a close-knit community among aviators because every time a pilot goes up, he is laying his life in the line."
Rinaldi is one of two pilots at Hillsdale College. The other pilot, Sophomore Paul Ostin, began flying when he was 14.
"It was hard to find an instructor willing to train a 14-year-old," Ostin said. "But I was a natural because I was always playing those flight simulator video games as a kid."
Ostin researched aeronautics while growing up and then flew his first solo trip at age 16.
Self-motivated all the way, Ostin says his inspiration came from within. He planned to be a corporate pilot from the start, but right before college his grandpa told him not to fly for a commercial airline because he would lose his passion for flying.
"Flying is like driving a bus these day," Ostin says. "The industry is so bad."
But he plans to fly as a leisure activity for years after college.
Both Ostin and Rinaldi hope to begin building their own planes in the next 5 years.
Ostin hopes to build a small two-seater high performance acrobatic plane. He doesn't know how to do tricks yet, but says he will teach himself.
"There's a saying among guys at the hangar back home that goes 'Real pilots fly homebuilts'" Ostin says. "It usually costs between 20k and 300k to build. A few of my friends back home would go in with me if they had the money."
Rinaldi's home build will require a bit more maneuvering.
"I want to build a Red Baron Fokker Dr.1," Rinaldi says. "As far as I know there are only two still flying out there. There's no kit for that one. I'd have to build it all from scratch."
Junior Andy Throckmorton grew up around his father's twin engine plane. He says he would like to pursue a pilot's license after law school.
"I have more appreciation for aviation from flying over Colorado when I was young," Throckmorton says.
He says he feels safer than the average person when he's flying because of his dad's meticulous control of the plane.
Rinaldi also tries to play it safe in the air.
"I never take chances," Rinaldi says. "It's against Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules. One of the guys in the class ahead of me had his license suspended for buzzing the pool where his girlfriend worked."
Ostin doesn't share Rinaldi's sentiment for keeping the rules of the air.
"Last summer I did a low altitude flight over Hillsdale," Ostin says. "It wasn't that I buzzed Central Hall, but I got close enough."
Hillsdale College Collegian
Junior Joe Rinaldi sits alone in the cockpit looking down on the city. All is silent with his headset on.
He says when he is up there, he feels a commanding presence over the city; a sense of complete freedom.
Rinaldi started taking lessons at age 16. He says no one inspired his piloting career. He saw "Top Gun" when he was 4 years old and wanted to fly since.
"I was the youngest in my flight class," Rinaldi says. "When I landed after my first solo flight at 17, snow was completely covering the runway. I was elated."
Landing, even more than flying, Rinaldi says, is the greatest thrill among aviators and can be more dangerous than being airborne.
"The second time I flew solo, the left wheel strut collapsed," Rinaldi says.
He was nervous when he first started flying.
"I've had an instructor and a friend die," Rinaldi says. "There's a close-knit community among aviators because every time a pilot goes up, he is laying his life in the line."
Rinaldi is one of two pilots at Hillsdale College. The other pilot, Sophomore Paul Ostin, began flying when he was 14.
"It was hard to find an instructor willing to train a 14-year-old," Ostin said. "But I was a natural because I was always playing those flight simulator video games as a kid."
Ostin researched aeronautics while growing up and then flew his first solo trip at age 16.
Self-motivated all the way, Ostin says his inspiration came from within. He planned to be a corporate pilot from the start, but right before college his grandpa told him not to fly for a commercial airline because he would lose his passion for flying.
"Flying is like driving a bus these day," Ostin says. "The industry is so bad."
But he plans to fly as a leisure activity for years after college.
Both Ostin and Rinaldi hope to begin building their own planes in the next 5 years.
Ostin hopes to build a small two-seater high performance acrobatic plane. He doesn't know how to do tricks yet, but says he will teach himself.
"There's a saying among guys at the hangar back home that goes 'Real pilots fly homebuilts'" Ostin says. "It usually costs between 20k and 300k to build. A few of my friends back home would go in with me if they had the money."
Rinaldi's home build will require a bit more maneuvering.
"I want to build a Red Baron Fokker Dr.1," Rinaldi says. "As far as I know there are only two still flying out there. There's no kit for that one. I'd have to build it all from scratch."
Junior Andy Throckmorton grew up around his father's twin engine plane. He says he would like to pursue a pilot's license after law school.
"I have more appreciation for aviation from flying over Colorado when I was young," Throckmorton says.
He says he feels safer than the average person when he's flying because of his dad's meticulous control of the plane.
Rinaldi also tries to play it safe in the air.
"I never take chances," Rinaldi says. "It's against Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules. One of the guys in the class ahead of me had his license suspended for buzzing the pool where his girlfriend worked."
Ostin doesn't share Rinaldi's sentiment for keeping the rules of the air.
"Last summer I did a low altitude flight over Hillsdale," Ostin says. "It wasn't that I buzzed Central Hall, but I got close enough."
Hillsdale College Collegian
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