Silverdale teen's first solo flight a rite of passage - Bremerton National Airport (KPWT), Washington

BREMERTON — At 16 years old, Karl Watson hasn't driven a car by himself — he doesn't even have a learner's permit — but he has piloted a Cessna 152 around the Bremerton National Airport without anyone by his side.

Five days after his monumental first solo flight, the articulate Central Kitsap High School sophomore sat on the leather couch in the Avian Flight Center lobby and tried to explain what it was like to be in the air without the safety net of his flight instructor sitting co-pilot.

After giving it some thought, he couldn't come up with any comparisons.

"You just have to be there," he said.

Watson's first time in a private airplane came two years earlier. That was for his discovery flight, or as he explained it: "When you see if your stomach can handle it."

He had already completed his ground school training — where you learn how to fly a plane before taking to the sky — and passed the grueling Federal Aviation Administration written test, which he prepared for by pouring over a 200-page study manual.

He took the ground school classes with his father, Robert Watson, who signed up the two for the program to bring them closer together. Like his son, Robert Watson wants to learn to fly, but after the Navy retiree learned the GI Bill wouldn't cover his flight education until after he obtained a private license — which requires lessons — he put his plans on hold to pay for his son's flight training.

Even with a generous scholarship from the Bremerton Pilots Association to help defray the costs of his son's lessons, paying for two people to learn to fly was more than the Silverdale family of four could afford right now, Robert Watson said.

"I still want to do it one day, but maybe after both kids are done with college," he said.

Instead he's had to live vicariously through his oldest child, driving him to lessons and standing by as he made his three solo passes around the Bremerton airport on Easter Sunday.

Before signing up for flight lessons, Robert Watson spent a lot of time attending 10-year-old daughter Liese's competitive gymnastics events. The shared interest in flying was a way for the father to divide his time a little more evenly.

"It's been a really fun journey," Robert Watson said. "I'm kind of envious, but I'm super proud of him."

The day Karl Watson flew by himself wasn't the first time the solo flight had been scheduled — originally they'd tried to do it in February for his 16th birthday, the legal age to fly solo, but poor weather prohibited the flight. The same scenario played out a few more times before April 8, which was a beautiful spring day.

Karl Watson went up in the Cessna 152 his family rents for lessons with his flight instructor Clint Edwards and ran through a normal lesson. He's been the lead pilot since his fifth time in the air, so he wasn't nervous about being behind the controls. Edwards had the aspiring pilot run through various maneuvers, including power-on and power-off stalls — to learn how to react to a stalled plane — a slow flight and three landings; if he wasn't straight on center of the runway when he came down he had to cancel his approach.

The wind was picking up by the end of the lesson, leaving Karl Watson unsure if he would get the green light to fly solo — if he had his way, he wouldn't fly in anything over 12 knots, he said.

Thinking the lesson was over, Karl Watson landed the plane. The radio controller gave the command to bring it in for the day, but Edwards surprised the teen and his father when he said, "No, Karl has a solo flight to do."

The pair came in and filled out the appropriate paperwork, then it was Karl Watson's turn to show what nine months of flight lessons taught him.

"I had already gone through the nervousness," he said. "I was pretty tranquil about it."

That tranquillity translated to a smooth solo flight, even when he had to divert from his original route for an incoming plane on his third pass. When he landed he was greeted by Edwards and other pilots on the ground, who baptized the right of passage with a healthy dousing of water.

"I've been doing this since 2007, and it's the first time I've soloed with a 16-year-old," Edwards said. "Normally, people wait. It's like a dream and later in life they have the finances to do it. It's not common for a 16-year-old to do a solo flight."

At least one other Central Kitsap High School student, Nick Woods, 17, achieved his first solo flight this year. Woods, a senior, flew his solo in February.

Karl Watson doesn't know why flying has grabbed his interest — ever since he was a kid he's loved the "thrust feeling" at take off — but he knows it's something he wants to pursue. He's already talking about enrolling in Central Washington University's avionics program to get his commercial pilot's license (he's not sure if he wants to fly cargo or people) and plans to have his private pilot's license once he turns 17.

"I definitely want to fly bigger airplanes," he said. "I enjoy it. The best thing you can have is a job you enjoy."

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