How I got here...

It was Father's Day 2005. I had been married for 6 years, had 2 awesome little guys to take care of and my family life was great! My wife had been hearing me babble on and on about wanting to learn to fly since we met in 1997 but it was never really in the cards financially. This Father's Day morning was nothing special. It was a Saturday and it was a beautiful day in Indiana. My family made me feel great, like most do on Father's Day. We got up, ate breakfast and generally had a nice morning. I was content just hanging out with them and life was good. About noon, my wife brings me a card. I just figured it was the typical Father's Day card and opened it up to read it. To my surprise a gift certificate slid out. It said "Redeem this for a 1 hour Discovery Flight from Indianapolis Aviation"! I was excited to say the least. I asked my wife when I would be able to go and she informed me that I better go take a shower, my Discovery Flight was scheduled for 2:00 p.m. that afternoon! Off we went!

Upon arriving, I met the CFI and he told me what to expect. We walked out to the Cessna 172SP and he went through the pre-flight. A short bit later we were taxiing to the runway and before I knew it we were airborne. The flight was amazing. I was able to fly for most of the time and we basically went on a sight seeing tour of Indianapolis. It was awesome and I was hooked! My wife even took video of the whole thing so I could re-live the fun. Well, good thing she took the video, after the discovery flight, we agreed that we still couldn't afford flight lessons...

A few more years went by and I never stopped thinking about how great that discovery flight was. I used to go over to the airport on my lunch breaks and watch general aviation aircraft take off and land, hoping that someday I would be the one behind the controls. It just never happened.

The time is now September 2007. I had just made one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my life. After many months of recruiting me, I decided to accept a management position with Lowe's Companies in Mooresville, North Carolina. This meant that my family and I would be moving away from everything that I had ever known to a totally new city and culture. Not only is everything new, I would be in NC for the first 2 months by myself as my wife stayed behind to get the house ready to sell. It was a difficult 2 months.

Once everyone got settled in the new house and community I decided to start doing a little research on flight schools in the area. In Indy, there were 6 great schools within 30 minutes. The outcome in NC wasn't as good. There were 2, both 30 minutes away in opposite directions. I started dropping hints to my wife and she seemed a little more receptive this time. I noticed that one of the flight school was having an open house in early February 2008. This was perfect! I could take the whole family, the kids could climb on the airplanes and make airplane noises and I could meet all of the staff and see if there was a personality match between me and one of the instructors. It all happened just like that!

The weather was terrible, rain and sleet! Luckily Paramount Flight Services had access to a huge hanger and all of their aircraft were in there for everyone to see. They also had tons of food and cookies for everyone! It was a really nice open house. My family had a really nice time and the kids were having a blast hanging out in all of the aircraft. I got the opportunity to meet all of the CFI's that Paramount had on staff. One guy in general caught my attention, Ron Capello.

Ron is a pilot for American Eagle and I think this is what caught my attention the most. I am only 33 years old but I didn't want a CFI who was 22 and only trying to build hours so he/she could move up to the airlines. I wanted a CFI who taught because they wanted to, not because they had to! Ron was that, plus he was super nice to my kids, my wife and he seemed to have a good personality and sense of humor. All things I wanted in someone I would be spending so much time with. So far, things were looking great!

After the open house at Paramount my wife and I had a lot of discussion over the financial means for me to finally do this. We talked about the pro's and con's of everything and it was going to be tough. There was one major reason for me wanting to become a pilot and that is my grandfather, Jim Applegate. He had a passion for aviation and I have always respected and looked up to him. I have told my wife that it is a dream of mine to take him up after I get my license. Well, he is getting old, 81 to be exact, and I don't know how much longer I will have. This came up when my wife and I were talking everything through and we both decided that it would be better not to wait until it's too late. So I called Paramount and signed up!