Now that we’ve started to get a foothold in Pueblo, and Chels and the kids have picked up a homeschool routine, we’ve started getting the kids into programs that focus on particular aptitudes. Living so close to the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Cooper is in particular luck.
Coop has been fascinated with flight ever since he was a little guy. He wore an old leather pilot’s helmet to bed until he was seven, no joke. He has shown a natural curiosity in aeronautics, progressing from his own experiments in paper airplane design to launching homemade rockets in the span of about three years. I think the kid was born to fly. At eleven years old, he’s already a solid drone pilot. But . . . where does he go from here?
A few weeks ago Chelsea discovered Falcon Aerolab. What an amazing program – one of those things I wish I had when I was a kid. When Chels shot me their website and I checked out the About Us page? Whoa. These guys are straight out of The Right Stuff: retired Air Force Colonels, ex-fighter pilots, squadron commanders, advisors to the Secretary of Defense, Air Force Academy professors, and a whole cadre of aeronautics specialists in both flight and design (just check out Falcon AeroLab’s list of Certified Flight Instructors, ahem.)
What do they do? Without becoming too much of a commercial, let me put it this way: Falcon AeroLab is training the next generation of aeronautics experts. Sounds expensive, doesn’t it? I thought so. But I was shocked at how affordable their program is. Bottom line is it didn’t take much discussion – we promptly signed up Coop and Indy.
This past Friday, they took their first flight in a small aircraft with the founder of Falcon AeroLab, Mark Hyatt. He asked if Chels would like to ride along, and there was no hesitation.
They took to the skies out of Pueblo. After a brief stop in Canon City, Indy hopped in the cockpit and took over the controls for a few turns on the return flight – and fell in love.
We may have two future pilots on our hands. Maybe more. Next time, Aspen and I are riding in the Cessna.
