Malia Gohier, EAA 1222203, remained calm and focused on landing safely during her first solo flight, which was in less than ideal conditions. Despite the many obstacles she faced that morning, Malia successfully completed her first solo on August 8, in a light-sport Zenith.
“The ceiling was low; I can’t remember how low but low enough that I had to fly at 1,400 MSL — the pattern altitude at my airport is 1,800 MSL,” Malia said. “I had a 25 mph crosswind, and it was lightly raining off and on, on top of all that my instructor has his students do four landings … I got three in when he called me down due to the weather.”
Malia became interested in flying when she watched the movie Porco Rosso by Studio Ghibli. Malia admitted that it wasn’t the aviation aspect of the movie that had her interested in flying — it was the clouds. Malia was determined to experience that beautiful sight herself. Rather than asking her mom if they could go on vacation and fly somewhere, she told her mom that she wanted to learn how to fly herself. So, her mom, Paula, started looking into the EAA Young Eagles program, and, as they say, the rest was history.
A little more than three months after Malia accomplished her first solo flight, she passed her written exam on November 15, 2018.
“The written was nerve-wracking,” Malia said. “I was so scared. Like normal school test jitters times five. Afterwards I was ecstatic. I had made an 87 percent. I was so happy”
Malia’s plans for the future are to finish her last year of high school, and then she will likely continue her aviation education and perhaps one day fly as a commercial pilot. Congratulations, Malia, from all of us at EAA.
Have you reached a milestone recently? Passed a checkride, given your first or hundredth Young Eagle flight, flown your homebuilt for the first time? Tell us about it at editorial@eaa.org.