Have you always wanted to fly?

Most people who walk into our hangar say the same thing: "I've wanted to do this since I was a kid." Good news. You can. Learning to fly is not just for airline pilots and millionaires; it is a skill that ordinary people with ordinary jobs earn every year at little airports like ours, one lesson at a time. Skyway Flight Training has been teaching people to fly at Wexley County Airport since 1996 in two well-kept Cessnas, at rates that are among the lowest in this part of the state. Come see us. The coffee is free and the view is better than any office you've ever worked in.

Not sure if flying is for you? Find out for $49. Your introductory lesson is about an hour: thirty minutes on the ground with Gary going over the airplane and the basic controls, then about thirty minutes in the air in the Cessna 152 where you fly the airplane yourself (with the instructor right beside you, of course). You'll take off, make some turns, climb and descend, and look down at your own town from 2,500 feet. Most people are grinning for the rest of the day.

The intro flight counts as your first logged lesson if you decide to continue, and we'll give you your own logbook with that first entry in it either way. Gift certificates are available; an intro flight makes a Christmas present nobody forgets.

"Wet" means the fuel is included in the price. Airplane time is charged by the hour on the engine meter, so you only pay for the time the engine is running. A typical one-hour lesson in the 152 with Gary, including the pre-flight briefing and the talk afterward, comes to about $100. We don't require any money up front; you pay as you fly, lesson by lesson. Licensed pilots may rent either airplane after a checkout flight with an instructor.

People ask this first, so here is the honest answer.

• Who can do it. You must be 17 to hold a private pilot certificate (16 to fly solo), read, speak and understand English, and pass a basic medical exam with an FAA-designated aviation medical examiner; there is one in the county seat and the exam is routine for most healthy people. Glasses are fine. You'll get your student pilot certificate at that same exam.
• Flight time. The regulations require a minimum of 40 hours of flight time, including at least 20 hours with an instructor and 10 hours solo, with specific things covered: cross-country flights to other airports, three hours of night flying, three hours of instrument-reference flying, and so on. Forty is the legal minimum. Most people take 55 to 70 hours, and there is nothing wrong with that; you're ready when you're ready. Flying once or twice a week keeps things fresh and gets you done faster than a lesson every three weeks.
• The written test. Officially the "knowledge test," taken at a computer testing center: 60 multiple-choice questions on regulations, weather, navigation, aerodynamics and airplane systems, and 70% passes. Our ground school is aimed squarely at this test, and we'll sign you off to take it when you're ready.
• The checkride. The final exam is a practical test with an FAA designated pilot examiner: an oral quiz on the ground, then a flight where you demonstrate the maneuvers you've been practicing. Pass it and you walk away a private pilot, able to carry passengers anywhere in the country in daylight or dark in good weather.
• Cost. At our rates, a student who finishes in 55-65 hours can expect to spend roughly $5,000 to $6,500 all told, spread over however long it takes you. Books, headset, medical exam and the examiner's fee are extra. Ask any pilot whether it was worth it.

Our private pilot ground school meets on Tuesday evenings, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., in the pilots' lounge at the airport, for ten weeks starting Tuesday, October 5, 1999. There is no class on November 23, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so the last class is December 14. Cost is $175 including the textbook and workbook. Class is limited to 12 people; six spots were taken as of this update.

You do not have to be taking flying lessons to attend. Some folks take ground school first to see if the subject grabs them; some spouses of pilots take it to understand what the fuss is about. Topics, in order: the airplane and how it flies; instruments and systems; the airport and air traffic control; regulations; weather; weather reports and forecasts; navigation by chart and compass; radio navigation; flight planning and performance; and a final review with practice tests. Bring a pencil and a plotter (we sell them).

Gary M. holds a commercial pilot certificate with instrument rating and has been a certificated flight instructor since 1988. He has about 2,400 hours of flying time, roughly half of it teaching. Before opening Skyway, Gary spent eight years as a corporate pilot, flying a twin-engine turboprop for a manufacturing company, which means a lot of early mornings, a lot of weather, and a lot of small airports just like this one. He'll be the first to tell you he likes teaching better. He has taken 41 students from their first lesson through their checkride, and every one of them passed.

Gary's teaching style, in his own words: "Calm, thorough, no yelling. You will not be pushed to solo before you're ready and you won't be held back once you are. My job is to make you a safe pilot who makes good decisions, not just someone who can pass a test."

Some clubs and schools list a lot of names and titles. Here it's Gary. When you call, you talk to Gary. When you fly, you fly with Gary.

Wexley County Airport is a quiet county-owned field with one paved 3,600-foot runway, a grass crosswind strip, a dozen hangars and a pilots' lounge with a couch, a coffee pot and a weather computer. There's no control tower, which is actually the best kind of place to learn: no waiting in line, plenty of takeoffs and landings per hour, and you learn to talk on the radio the way pilots at thousands of small airports do. When you're ready, we'll fly to the big towered airport an hour away so you're comfortable with that too. Fuel is self-serve, 24 hours. The airport is on the county road just north of the fairgrounds; follow the windsock.

Our airplanes: a 1979 Cessna 152, the classic two-seat trainer that more people have learned to fly in than any other airplane, and a 1977 Cessna 172, a four-seater for cross-country flights and for taking the family up after you get your license. Both are maintained by the mechanic on the field and inspected every 100 hours as the rules require for training aircraft. They are not new, but they are clean and they are sound, and Gary flies them himself every day.

Hours: 8:00 a.m. until dusk, seven days a week, weather permitting. Evening lessons for night flying by appointment. Closed Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Lessons are scheduled in advance; weekends fill up first, so book a week ahead if you can.

Phone: (555) 555-0177. If we're flying, the machine will pick up; leave a message and we'll call back when we're on the ground.

E-mail: [email protected]. E-mail is a fine way to book your intro flight or ask questions; Gary checks it every evening.

Weather: If the weather looks doubtful on your lesson day, call before you drive out. We don't fly in weather that isn't safe for training, and there's no charge for a lesson cancelled for weather. We'll use the time on the ground if you'd like.