PHS senior joins family of fliers

By Lydia Beers
Pilot News Staff Writer

PLYMOUTH — After completing nine months of flying lessons, Plymouth High School senior Connor Flynn was more than ready to go on his first solo flight. In fact, he was so eager that he took the first opportunity available — right after his baseball game May 15.

"It was dusk," Flynn remembered. "The sky was just beautiful."

Flynn first became interested in learning to fly in junior high, when his cousin Thomas, a pilot, invited him to go flying. The experience was exhilarating, and Flynn knew that he wanted to pursue getting a pilot's license.

"I fell in love with it," said Flynn simply. "I knew it was something I wanted to try when I got older. I tried it, and I'm still in love with it."

Flynn comes from a family of fliers. Two of his uncles and two of his cousins are pilots, and his grandmother Kay Flynn also pursued flying.

"I guess she was the start of it all," said Flynn of his grandmother, adding, "In my immediate family, I'm the only one that's flown."

Flynn's family is supportive of his relatively newfound interest, "because I love it so much," said Flynn, continuing, "My mom was pretty nervous and scared (before the solo flight) but I guess that's just what moms kind of do."

He started lessons with the Mentone Flying Club at the Fulton County Airport in September, and said he's learned a lot from his instructor, Ted Cox. Flynn was encouraged to join the club by his friend, Mitch Holloway. Holloway already has his pilot's license, and the friends dream of being co-pilots with the Coast Guard someday.

"(Flying) is simply awesome," said Holloway. "Not many people get to experience what flying really is. Whatever problems you are going through on the ground, in the air you are about three, four thousand feet above it."

When it was time for his flight, Flynn was surprised how different it felt to take off with no one in the plane but himself.

"I didn't know what to do because there was nobody to talk to — so I just started singing," said Flynn. "I was singing Tommy Tutone, '8675309.' I don't know why, but it just popped into my head. Then I got to talk to other pilots in the traffic pattern too."

He stayed close to the airport in case anything went wrong, and took off and landed twice. He thinks the entire experience lasted about 30 minutes.

"Takeoff is the easy part, but it's the landing that really gets you thinking," said Flynn. "It's one of the greatest feelings of a sense of accomplishment I've ever had, because of all of the work I put into it. It just felt really good."

Reprinted by permission of the Pilot News