You Can Fly - 2024 Edition - 2

WELCOME TO FLYING
'I THINK I'LL LEARN
TO FLY TODAY'
Reflecting on a surprising decision
BY STEVIE TRIESENBERG
end up shaping me into the safety-oriented
pilot I am today (thank you, Shawn!), read
through what would be the first of many
checklists I'd rattle off, and took off from the
Ann Arbor Airport.
Six years after taking off on my introductory
flight, everything seems to have come
full circle, and I am now the one introducing
others to aviation through social media. The
most-asked question I get on social media is,
" How do I learn to fly? " The less-frequently-asked
and more complicated question,
however, is, " Why should I learn to fly? "
Elle Woods left Harvard Law with a
" Do you think she woke up one morning and said, 'I think I'll go to
law school today'? " -From the movie Legally Blonde
W
hen I was growing up, flying was never presented to
me as something I could learn to do. I had no family or
friends in aviation at the time, and I wasn't exposed to aviation
in any way, shape, or form. The door to aviation was never
locked or hidden from me, I simply didn't know it existed.
That is, until one day in high school, I woke up, saw a photo of
a small, single-engine airplane on Instagram, and thought to
myself, " I think I'll learn to fly today! "
A few years later, I stood right in front of the door to aviation
and swung it wide open. And I didn't just open a metaphorical
door-I walked into Michigan Flyers in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
for an introductory flight. Much like Elle Woods first arriving at
Harvard in the movie Legally Blonde, I showed up to the airport
that day knowing next to nothing about aviation. In fact, I knew
so little that I picked Michigan Flyers as my flight school based
solely off the fact that they had the nicest website (which, lucky
for me, ended up being the best decision I could have ever made).
I hopped into a Cessna 172 with my new instructor, who would
2
FLIGHT TRAINING YOU CAN FLY 2024
lot more than she originally asked for. She
graduated with a law degree, but also with
a job offer, a newfound passion, heightened
confidence, and true friends. When I passed
my private pilot checkride, I got what I asked
for-a temporary certificate that said I was
officially a private pilot-but I also got a lot
more than that tiny piece of paper.
Learning to fly opened the world in a completely
new way and has provided me with
some incredible experiences, such as flying
to an airport restaurant to get hot chocolate on a cold winter
morning or camping with friends under my airplane wing on California's
Catalina Island. Learning to fly increased my confidence
both inside and outside of the airplane and taught me lessons that
I can apply in countless other parts of my life. But most important,
learning to fly introduced me to a welcoming, supportive
community of all kinds of people who are tied together by a common
passion for aviation, with some of these people now being
my closest friends. Flying an airplane is a skill that can be turned
into a lifelong hobby or career, but it's all the " other stuff " that
will keep me in aviation for many years to come.
I will always be grateful for that morning when I woke up and
said, " I think I'll learn to fly today! "
Stevie Triesenberg is a commercial pilot and CFI. She is a content
creator on TikTok and other platforms and has more than 1.3 million
followers. She is the owner of a 1952 V-tail Beechcraft Bonanza C35.
@planegirl
@bayflight
STEVIE TRIESENBERG
You Can Fly - 2024 Edition

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of You Can Fly - 2024 Edition
