Los Angeles was foggy, like sunshine stuck in a cloudy sheet. I still looked up at the sky, and there was another bright light: a plane reflecting sunlight as it flew through clear blue. The loud engines always made me a little sad, but not because I wanted to go back to Rio. It was a sadness for something I never really thought about, but kind of always wanted since I was a kid.
Then, something cool happened: I got extra money at work, like a dare. All of a sudden, my dream of flying became real: I could actually learn to fly a plane! I looked into flight lessons in Los Angeles, and after a bunch of research, I landed on something good.
Online, I searched for reviews and compared schools, even calling them. Activepilot seemed different. I thought they wouldn’t be a good fit, but their website looked really nice and new. What really surprised me was how friendly their teacher, Tom, sounded. He seemed so excited when he talked to me, compared to the stricter teachers at other schools.
Walking into their airplane storage area felt like being in a whole new place: it smelled like gas for planes, sunlight bounced off the plane parts that spin, and there was a happy feeling in the air – it felt like I was already flying!
My teacher turned out to be awesome. She was a serious pilot with gray hair. She was very patient and, most importantly, could explain all the flying stuff in a way even someone who knew nothing like me could understand. Learning to fly wasn’t easy. It was a big challenge. I was always scared before take-off, and it was annoying to fight with the controls at first. But it was also super rewarding.
The first time my teacher, Sarah, let me control the plane, it was amazing. She gave me the thing that steers, and I looked down to see the whole city spread out below me in incredible detail. The afternoon sun made the city look red, and there was a light fog around it. In that moment, I wasn’t just Ethan who sat in an office anymore, I felt like a pilot in charge of my own little world. The world looked different from way up there.
Of course, there was a lot to learn about how to actually fly the plane. But learning to fly is also about not being scared and pushing yourself. It’s about trusting the plane and yourself. It takes a lot of focus – being in a small metal tube zooming through the sky at 200 miles per hour is intense! But that focus helped me in other parts of my life too.
Before, my life felt stuck in a small area downtown. There wasn’t even a pretty drive to the beach to make it feel bigger. Los Angeles felt boring and limited, unlike the exciting world I imagined. But now, the city limits felt like a starting point, not an end.
Most importantly, I found something I loved that I never knew I did. Flight Lessons Los Angeles felt amazing. It was like a dream come true that I never even knew I had. It might sound crazy, but it’s true. Learning to fly can be the best thing ever – if you take it seriously and give it a shot. For me, that meant getting a pilot’s license at a flight school in Los Angeles. And for me, that first step was a big chance to take, but it was totally worth it.