“I always thought the concept of aviation was extremely fascinating,” Denver Scott, EAA 1108047, said.
Attending AirVenture and taking a Young Eagles flight is what got Denver’s interest going. From there, he became a member of his local EAA chapter and started exploring piloting through flight simulators.
“I have logged over 300 hours in various simulators such as Microsoft Flight Simulator X, X-Plane 11, and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020,” Denver said. “When I started to excel in the simulators, I began to wonder if the skills would translate to a real plane, so we scheduled my first flight lesson.”
When the time came to start lessons, Denver said the flight simulators helped a lot in the learning process and before he knew it, it was time to solo – and during the week of his 16th birthday, nonetheless!
On the day of his solo flight, Sunday, April 18, he took off from Wittman Regional Airport in the Winnebago Flying Club’s Cessna 172, N7770G.
“The weather was beautiful, there were about five knots of wind but it was right down the runway (9 at KOSH) so there was no crosswind,” Denver said. “The taxi out to the runway was intimidating, however, once I completed the engine run-up, I was ready to go. After I took off and was in the air, I felt a lot of the nervousness disappear because I was focused on the flight itself and just treated it as I would have with my CFI John Dorcey in the plane. During the landings, I felt a small amount of nervousness but all three landings went well. Upon taxiing back, I was surprised by my friends and family waiting by the hangar to congratulate me.”
After a successful first solo flight, Denver said he plans to celebrate by logging more hours in the sky until he can take his checkride, which he plans on taking a year from now on his 17th birthday.
“Once I earn my certificate, I have plans to continue lessons and hopefully gain around 200 hours by the time I graduate high school,” Denver said. “I am interested in some sort of aviation career but am not quite sure of the specifics yet. I am considering aviation schools such as the Air Force Academy and Embry Riddle to help pursue a career in aviation.”
The sky’s the limit!