State - Pinckney Taking flight Teen learns how to fly before earning his driver's license

By Frank Konkel Livingston County Daily Press & Argus (Howell) PINCKNEY, Mich. (AP) -- He doesn't drive a car yet, but 16-year-old Pinckney resident Chris Gannon can fly an airplane solo. On Jan. 9, Gannon's 16th birthday, the Pinckney Community High School sophomore piloted a Cessna 172 Skyhawk alone for the first time over the Oakland/Southwest Airport, formerly the New Hudson Airport, in Oakland County. Because of Federal Aviation Administration restrictions, a pilot must be at least 16 years old to fly solo. Gannon wasted no time, soaring 3,000 feet above the ground for about half an hour, in between landings, takeoffs, banks and rolls. "I'd pictured in my head how it would go, not thinking about it and just flying like I had the past year-and-a-half," Gannon said. "You realize your flight instructor's not there anymore, and that you're the only person who can take responsibility for what you're doing. I believed I could do it, I soloed it, landed it and I went up and did it again." It was certified flight instructor Ben Carter who, two years ago, took Gannon up for a free half-hour flight at American Aces Aviation flight school in New Hudson. Gannon randomly won the flight in an open-house raffle one year earlier. Gannon recalls being a passenger for the first time and how scared of heights he was, and still is. "I'm not into roller coasters and stuff; I was pretty freaked out at first, pretty petrified," Gannon said. "But I was so intrigued by how different and unlike anything flying was than anything else I'd ever done in my entire life. I decided it's what I wanted to do." Gannon asked Carter to be his instructor, signed up for ground school and went to work becoming a pilot. After logging more than 30 flight hours, passing ground school and acing an aviation knowledge test two weeks ago, Gannon earned Carter's signature on his logbook, allowing him to fly alone within a 25-nautical-mile radius of the airport. "At the end of the day, the skill, competency and knowledge required to be a pilot is not for the faint of heart; it takes a lot of focus and effort," said Carter, an accomplished pilot and co-owner of American Aces Aviation. "Chris is a very responsible, attentive young man, and someone I really trusted an airplane with. He's worked very hard to get where he is at such a young age." He's not finished yet. Gannon plans to earn his private pilot's license when he turns 17 -- the youngest age a pilot can earn such distinction. To do so, he'll have to pass a knowledge test, an oral test and a flight test with an FAA examiner. Academics, Gannon said, are important for pilots, a truth he feels is often overlooked because of his craft's physical nature. "You have to know a lot about air space and weather. Academics is a very important part of flying," Gannon said. "You have to have a complete knowledge of all this stuff you had no idea even existed." Gannon plans to attend college and wants to pursue a career in aviation when he's finished, possibly with the U.S. Navy or Air Force. For now, the "Top Gun''-inspired pilot plans to focus on attaining his private pilot's license, something Gannon might well do around the same time he earns his Michigan driver's license. "Driving is scary to me. I've been putting that off a little," he said. "Everyone else (in the air) is so well-trained, I don't worry about crashing into anybody or anything like that. But drivers on the road, you can do everything right and they can still crash into you." As Gannon's peers excitedly take to the highways for the first time, he'll be soaring in the sky, thousands of feet above them. That's OK, Gannon said. He'd rather have his wings than his wheels any day. Published: Thu, Feb 11, 2010

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