By Reggie Paulk
Back in 1991, I was 15 years old, a freshman in high school, and completely bored out of my mind in school. All I could think about were airplanes, bush flying, and Alaska — in that order. I wasn’t a stupid kid, and my parents recognized that I didn’t have another three years in me to wait to graduate, so they let me drop out.
I had a plan, though. I wanted to be an Alaskan bush pilot so bad, I could taste it. In order to accomplish that goal, I needed to get my pilot certificates. I still needed my GED in order to be accepted to the flight school I was eying in Colorado Springs, so I got a waiver to take my GED after I turned 16. Once I had my diploma, all I had to do was get old enough to get my certificates, so I did what any 16-year-old would do: I got my glider certificate.
Thanks to an extremely supportive family, I soon moved in with my grandparents, who lived an hour away from my flight school. My grandpa was a World War II Spitfire pilot, and he kept my flying passion stoked with stories of flying his fighter in England, Italy, and North Africa during the early years of the war.
I obtained my commercial and flight instructor certificates after my 18th birthday in 1994 and immediately headed to Alaska to attend A&P school in Fairbanks. The stint was short-lived. My grandpa and grandma were getting old, and I sensed I didn’t have a lot of time left to spend with them. I moved back to Colorado and settled into the slow march toward my bachelor’s degree — something my grandpa was adamant I do.
Not pursuing my dream of Alaskan bush flying set me on a meandering course that eventually led to a college degree, marriage, and children — a course followed by many a fellow aviator. I was lucky that I was allowed to work from home and raise my kids, but being a stay-at-home dad limited my involvement in aviation to a vicarious one; I lived aviation through the stories and experiences of others first by writing stories about them, and then as an editor of an aviation magazine. In early 2017, after nearly nine years as a magazine editor, that chapter of my life came to a close, and I moved to another venture.
A few years prior to 2017, I had gone through a divorce, but soon met a beautiful woman who would take me into the next stage of my life. It didn’t take her long to discover my love and passion for aviation.
By coincidence, I’d recently reconnected with a friend who owned a Remos G3 — a light-sport airplane based at the airport in our hometown. He kept encouraging me to go flying with him. I reluctantly agreed but wasn’t sure the little airplane, with a 100-hp Rotax, would be up to the task of flying in the high Rockies of Colorado. After nearly 16 years spent dreaming of flying, the experience transformed my life. Swooping over my childhood home in that wonderful airplane convinced me it was time to get my flying certificates current, time to get my medical, and perhaps even renew my flight instructor certificate.
With my fiancé’s encouragement, concurrent with planning our wedding, I set about getting my flight review. I then began the task of getting my flying polished for the CFI checkride. I also began heavily browsing Barnstormers, Controller, and Trade-a-Plane’s listings looking for my dream airplane — a tandem taildragger with which I could act out my backcountry flying fantasies.
In May of 2017, I stumbled upon the perfect airplane — a Rans S-7LS in which I could give dual instruction. Sure that I would probably not find a deal like this any time soon, my fiancé told me to go for it. It turned out to be a wise decision. On June 24, Dave Deets ferried my new airplane from Michigan to Denver 1,300 miles over two days, which is a huge feat of flying when you’re only going 100 miles per hour! After arriving at KFTG, he gave me a one-hour checkout, and I was officially in possession of my new toy. Flying, for now, though, would have to wait — I had a wedding and honeymoon to attend to!
It wasn’t until the end of July that I started flying my new bird in earnest and working toward my CFI check ride. I found a designated pilot examiner who was willing to give me a reinstatement in my S-7, and on September 7, 2017, after nearly 15 years on hiatus, I was officially a certified flight instructor, again.
Over the last year, I’ve flown nearly 100 hours, which is more flying than I had done in the last decade and a half before that! If you’d told me a year ago I’d own an airplane or be a flight instructor today, I wouldn’t have believed it.
Desire is an interesting thing. It always begins as a simple thought. You read magazines, search the forums, watch YouTube videos, and you begin to live vicariously through others who are pursuing your passion. You think, maybe someday, but what you don’t realize is that someday can turn into a decade or more, and, before you know it, life has flashed by.
As I write, I can honestly say I’m living my dream and pursuing my passion. I’m still trying to reach the point where I can fly full time, but I am moving toward my desires and into my passion. I’m also writing this to encourage you to do the same. Don’t wait or hesitate.
Philosopher Alan Watts once said, “Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.” If you have been daydreaming about flying, these words are meant to jolt you into action. The first step toward can be the most difficult. Use these words as encouragement to find a way to get into the air. After all, your dreams are meant to be lived!
Reggie Paulk was the editor of Sport Aerobatics magazine from 2008-2017, and has written articles for many aviation publications.