Tom
One person who has been important to me in my life is my grandpa. He has done many things for me. My grandpa is the reason I am flying airplanes today.
I flew with my grandpa many times at his airport in Dell Rapids South Dakota. He took me for rides and let me fly the plane even though he was probably doing most of it. We would fly to places and go to restaurants that the airports had. He would teach things about the airplane that I should know about when I was older so when I learned to fly I would know.
One day we were flying around the town and looking at stuff and it was the first time he ever asked me "do you want to fly?" I said yes and I got to fly around. This was the most exciting thing I had ever done in my life. I was probably about 5 at the time and couldn’t see over the dashboard of the plane.
Another day we were sitting at his shop and he asked me "do you want to fly into Sioux Falls and see what that is like?" That was very exciting. There were a lot of airliners coming in and out of there and I have never been that close to them before.
Now today my cousin and I are flying and we have to give him rides like he did to us. We go flying around town and let him fly the plane even though he has a hard time seeing he still knows where everything is in the plane. He remembers all the steps of what you are suppose to do before you takeoff and go fly around. I still fly in and out of his airport like we did before when he gave all of us grand kids rides in his airplane. He pays for every kid who wants to fly and there were 3 grand kids that flew and all are going to make it their livings when they’re older.
My grandpa has taught me to fly when the weather is good and how to be a disciplined pilot, even though I went through all of that training.
My grandpa has been very good influence and is very important because he started me in flying. He will always be one of the most important people to me in my life and there are also many others.