What Would You Rather Spend $100 On?

by ANN Managing Editor Rob Finfrock

It was a gift that would change my life. Fresh off my introduction to the joys of riding in a small plane in August 2002, I had excitedly mentioned my desire to get some more seat time to my friend, Jennifer... who rewarded me that Christmas with a Discovery Flight at Bode Aviation in Albuquerque.

Jen begged off accompanying me on that flight the following April -- she'd later enjoy a trip around the pattern with me in Dallas -- and looking back, it's still easy to recall how foreign everything seemed to me then. I do remember fighting the instinct to turn the yoke to steer on the ground as we taxied to Runway 8... and gulping as I pulled ever-so-cautiously back on that wheel to release the little Cessna 172 from the bonds of gravity.

Truthfully, I remember few details about that flight -- even the plane's N-number escapes me as I write this, and I'm a stickler for things like that -- but the sensations I experienced remain as vivid in my memory today as ever.

As we poked along the sky at 7,000 feet over the Rio Communities, I knew it would be hard for me to learn how to fly.

I knew it would challenge me, and would force me to knuckle down and actually learn something after years of skating by in life.

And I knew I wanted to do it all... more than I could recall ever wanting something before. It took six years of stop-and-start training, and a little bit of deus ex machina to boot... but I did do it. Today I'm the proud bearer of a sport pilot license, and I'm eager to progress further.

Looking back, I was lucky to be introduced to flying in 2002, at the age of 27. But I sometimes wonder how life would be different, had I taken that first Discovery Flight maybe 10 years before, or even 15. I'm certainly not complaining how my life has turned out... but it's an interesting intellectual exercise to ponder the "what-ifs?" every now and then.

Who knows how many people would find their calling in aviation, at a time when our industry so badly needs fresh faces and new energy... if only they were introduced to it?

Perhaps you know a child, teen, or young adult, who's asked you for a video game or two this Christmas. Two game cartridges can run upwards of $100... for an activity that encourages them to spend hours on end indoors, before a television or the computer. I should know... I used to play a lot of video games when I was that age.

For the same amount of money -- probably less actually, at around $99-$119 for a Discovery Flight through such programs as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's recently-launched "Let's Go Flying!" effort -- you can instead give your son or daughter, niece or nephew, or grandchild their first taste of what it means to be one with the sky, to ride the waves of air over the land they may have spent all their lives upon... but have never seen quite like this before.

Of course, aviation shouldn't be limited to the young -- all it takes is to be young at heart. Want to surprise your next door neighbor? Your father who recently retired, and who's looking for something to do? A coworker? Boyfriend or girlfriend? The list goes on...

This holiday season, I strongly encourage you to consider buying a Discovery Flight for someone -- young or old -- instead of the usual "stocking stuffer," or latest technological fad. Perhaps the new iPhone can wait... for it's not often that a gift can be so inspirational, even transcendent.

Though I was unquestionably enamored with the idea of flying in that last month of 2002, the idea of actually learning to pilot a small aircraft was as foreign to me as the idea of growing gills, and living underwater. Jen's gift showed me otherwise.

For aviation to survive these troubled times, in the throes of a faltering economy... more people need to feel like that.

This is where it starts.

Give a Discovery Flight.

FMI: www.aopa.org/letsgoflying/, www.pilotjourney.com/discovery