South Middleton resident Noah Reighard is a 17-year old solo pilot. Shown is his plane Friday, April 24, 2015 at the Carlisle Airport.
For anyone who knows him, it’s probably not much of a surprise that the Boiling Springs High School junior completed his first solo flight as pilot on March 29.
“I’ve loved aviation my whole life. This is what I was born to do,” said Noah, the son of Darren and Angie Reighard of South Middleton Township.
Barbara George is Noah’s instructor and mentor at the Cumberland Valley Aviation at the Business Airport of Carlisle. In her seven years there, she hasn’t seen many students Noah’s age fly solo, she said.
“Noah is a very enthusiastic kid. He’s a very good flight student,” said George, of Carlisle.
Noah said he’s studied aviation since he was a child. For his 13th birthday, he took his first flying lesson.
“Noah is a driven kid," Angie Reighard said. "He’s always wanted to learn new things. It’s been airplanes pretty much since he was a baby. He even had an airplane swing."
After he turned 16, Noah earned his student’s pilot license, which he said is “sort of like” a road driver’s permit. Before a pilot is allowed to fly solo, he or she must obtain a student pilot’s certificate.
For his solo flight, Noah did “extensive training,” he said. He studied pilot’s handbooks and did at least 40 co-piloted takeoffs and landings before tackling it himself on the 1968 single-engine Piper PA-28 Cherokee that he usually flies.
Noah now is working toward earning a standard pilot’s license, which he expects to have by July. George said that Noah has already taken the Federal Aviation Administration’s written exam for a pilot’s license and “did very well.”
To earn a pilot’s license, one must accumulate 40 hours of flight instruction, as well as pass written and oral exams. The FAA has set 17 as the minimal age for attaining a pilot’s license and 16 as the youngest that one can solo in an airplane.
What he likes best about flying, Noah said, is the freedom.
“You can go anywhere you want to go really fast. You’re not encumbered by roads. You can go anywhere you want to go,” he said.
The most difficult part about flying, he said, has been learning all of the FAA’s procedures and regulations.
“It’s not just flying an airplane. You have to learn all the instruments, how the engine works, and lots of other things about how the airplane works,” Noah explained, pointing to a thick FAA manual.
Noah’s life’s goals so far, he said, are to attend the U.S. Naval Academy and become a Naval aviator. After that, he would like to work as a pilot for a commercial airline.
This summer, Noah is attending the U.S. Naval Academy’s Summer Seminar for students who have completed their junior year. The seminar is designed to teach attendees about life at the Naval Academy, which is described online as a balance of academics, athletics and professional training.
When he’s not flying, Noah is a member of the Boiling Springs boys’ cross country team.
Original article can be found here: http://cumberlink.com
South Middleton resident Noah Reighard is a 17-year old solo pilot. Shown pulling his plane from a hangar at the Carlisle Airport Friday, April 24, 2015.
South Middleton resident Noah Reighard is a 17-year old solo pilot. Shown in his plane Friday, April 24, 2015 at the Carlisle Airport.
South Middleton resident Noah Reighard is a 17-year old solo pilot. Shown leaving his hangar Friday, April 24, 2015 at the Carlisle Airport.
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