Fighting Flight
By Shanon Kern
C-FHAD making a water landing. (Courtesy Shanon Kern)On a warm June day, in Vancouver B.C., my family and I watched in awe as small single engine air taxis took off from the bay and disappeared over the horizon. I could see the amazement and wonder in my children’s eyes as the single engine caravan taxied out to the center of the bay and magically lifted upward. In an instant, I was transported back to my own childhood amazement of flight. My Father, a newly minted commercial pilot, flew the “Sports book” from Laughlin, Nev. to Las Vegas, Nev. every night for the casinos. I was his sleeping stow away. By the age of five, my mind was convinced that I would be a pilot like my father.
By the age of seven, my father had changed careers and stopped flying. Somewhere over the years, as life progressed, I had forgotten about my young dreams of becoming a pilot. I was left instead with a completely unfounded and debilitating fear of heights and flying. I spent my entire twenties distancing myself from the dreams of the younger “me”.
As fate would have it, at 30 years old, reliving the marvels of flight with my children reminded me of the dreams I once had. I again saw the magic of heavy objects being lifted by an invisible force. A force first realized by young children as they drop object after object from their high chair onto the floor. In an instant, I knew that I had to learn how to fly.
Flying the dream over Briitish Columbia. (Courtesy Shanon Kern)A few weeks later, I began flight training in a Cessna 172. For the first 10 hours, my arms and legs would shake violently until they found themselves back on terra firma. I absolutely dreaded the days leading up to my lessons. I wanted to quit before and after every flight. I was fortunate to have a flight instructor who encouraged me and helped me turn my fears into a healthy respect. After 93 hours and year of training, I had achieved my childhood dream of becoming a pilot.
In retrospect, my flight training process taught me much more than learning how to fly an airplane. It taught me how to trust myself and the decisions I made. It taught me to never give up on my dreams and to always find a way to achieve them. Learning to be a pilot was about more than just flying the plane––it was about learning to navigate life.
