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07/08 – A Personal View – Living a Dream – in 14 Days!

By Nick Schreiber

One could honestly say that flying has been in my blood since the day I was born. Both my father and grandfather were pilots. The opportunity and time for learning to fly just never fit my schedule until early summer 2008.

I’ve always wanted to fly. My grandfather, Alexander Schreiber, learned to fly and soloed in a Cub in the 1930s and was able to build a lot of flight time ferrying J-2 and J-3 Cubs from Bradford and Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, to the Chicago area where he lived. He loved talking airplanes with me!

My father, Kent Schreiber, grew up in that environment and learned to fly as soon as he was old enough to solo, and naturally, soloed in a Cub. My dad has been flying for the better part of 50 years, most of that time flying corporate aircraft, but he still has a soft spot in his heart for Cubs. When I was very young he owned a Stearman and used to do air shows in it. But that’s another story.

I’ve focused the better part of my young life on baseball and getting an education. The dream to pitch in the major leagues one day kept me focused on baseball, and flying always had to wait. Then in the late summer of 2007, I experienced a muscle tear in my right shoulder and underwent corrective surgery. Proper healing and rehabilitation required that I did no throwing for nearly one year.

With every challenge or setback comes an opportunity. Waiting around for my arm to heal gave me a lot of time to think about my future and my life’s goals. I still wanted to pitch and have been told that I will be able to resume my baseball career. But I’m realistic enough to recognize that baseball might possibly not be a long-term career.

Rather than wasting a lot of valuable time sitting around frustrated waiting for my arm to heal, I decided I wanted to learn to fly and I desired to do it in a Cub. Dad, Mom, and I discussed this at length and both were supportive of my decision. However, flying would still have to wait for at least a few months because I was carrying a full load of college classes at California University of Pennsylvania.

Winter break and Christmas arrived. Imagine my surprise when my parents presented me with a gift certificate to Cub Air Flight, a small flight school located in Hartford, Wisconsin. The flight school uses Piper J-3 Cubs for most all of the primary flight training. My dream of learning to fly was about to become a reality as soon as the spring semester was complete. Dad learned of Cub Air Flight from an article featured in EAA Sport Aviation magazine.

On May 31, 2008, I arrived at the Hartford airport not knowing what to expect. Steve Krog, Cub Air owner/chief flight instructor, greeted me and wasted no time. Within an hour of my arrival we discussed the flight curriculum, walked through a thorough pre-flight of the J-3 Cub, and I suddenly found myself in the back seat of the Cub ready to learn.

Two and one-half days and 7.4 hours of concentrated dual instruction later, Steve asked me to taxi to the side of the grass runway and stop. He stated, “It’s about time I get out of this airplane and let you try it on you own.” I don’t think I heard another thing he said after that. Wow! I was about to solo a Cub just like my father and my grandfather did.

The first solo flight was uneventful, at least as far as the take offs and landings, but it was an emotional experience that I’ll never forget. I could envision my grandfather making his first solo and my father making his first at age 16. Tears welled in my eyes and my body was covered in “goose bumps” as I pushed the throttle in for my first solo! Then, reality set in and I realized that I had to get the Cub back on the ground yet.

All of the folks at the Hartford airport are like one big extended family. When we taxied away from the hangar for this flight there were two people watching. However, when I taxied back to the hangar after the first solo, there was an audience of at least ten people waiting to congratulate me. They must have a secret communications system there alerting all that another of Steve’s students had just soloed.

I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face and after shutting down the engine I had to sit in the Cub for a few extra minutes to wipe away the sentimental tears of joy. Steve did the honors of removing most of my shirt with his trusty ‘first solo’ scissors and then the backslapping and hand shaking began. I recall not sleeping that night as I relived the day’s experience!

The Hartford airport gang has a tradition of giving everyone a nickname and at the completion of the solo flight I became “The Kid,” which stuck with me for the remainder of my stay.

Intensive flight training continued for the next several days and soon I was making my solo cross-country flights in the Cub. At the conclusion of my long cross-country, Steve sat me down and said, “Nick, if you could extend your stay for three or four more days, we have a good chance of getting your private pilot’s license.” I couldn’t believe what he was saying, but if it seemed a good possibility to him, then let’s go for it.

The next four days of training were really intensive. I had to fly, study, get my written test taken and passed, and I needed to get the three hours of instrument training as well as the three hours of night training completed. Then, with the help of Steve and his associate instructor, Kandace Rawling, I needed to get ready for the oral portion of the flight test. The days were long and grueling. I’d arrive at the hangar by 8 a.m. and not leave until well after 10 p.m.

Finally, Steve and Kandace pronounced me ready. He contacted the Designated Examiner, Keith Myers, and my checkride was scheduled for the next afternoon. I spent another sleepless night studying and visualizing every maneuver I’d need to perform the next day.

Checkride day arrived. Promptly at 1 p.m., the examiner showed up and we started the oral portion of the flight exam. It seemed that I spent hours and hours answering questions, explaining flight situations, and defining every symbol imaginable found on the sectional chart. Finally, Examiner Myers stated the oral portion of the exam was over and it was time to fly. Though quite nervous, the flight check went without a hitch and as we taxied back to the hangar I was greeted by about a dozen people who had assembled to watch the memorable event. The silent rapid airport communications network had again taken up the cause.

Steve was first to come to the airplane and congratulate me, and as I climbed out of the Cub, the entire group surrounded me. Instantly, I was doused with a five-gallon bucket of ice water, another old tradition kept alive by Steve and the Hartford gang! A few minutes later the paperwork was complete and I had a brand new private pilot certificate in my pocket.

That evening another Hartford tradition took place. All new pilots are required to cook hamburgers and good old Wisconsin brats for the gang. While the whole gang was getting fed compliments of my success, Steve took me aside. I’ll never forget what he had to say. He stated that I had now joined the licensed pilot ranks, which make up less than one-tenth of one percent of the entire U.S. population and I had a responsibility to all other pilots to fly safely and be a good representative of our small group.

Reflecting on the entire stay at Hartford, I had a hard time believing that just 14 days earlier I had never before flown an airplane. Yet I was now a private pilot! It was really a long tough grind, but it was worth every minute.

Would I recommend to others to try the 14-day program? If you can handle being on the grind 12 hours a day, it is a good way to go. However, I think an extra week would have made it a little easier both physically and mentally. Being at the airport 12 hours per day allowed me to do it in such a compressed time frame. It did help that we had portions of three days where it rained but those days were hectic as well.

Having never been to EAA headquarters, Steve made arrangements for me to spend time meeting staff members and touring the museum on one of the rainy days. I had a great tour guide, Tom Hegy, another member of the Hartford gang. Tom knows more about airplanes than I’ll ever know, giving me a walking tour of the museum explaining the significance of every airplane displayed there. It was also helpful that he had flown a number of them. Now that I’ve seen the museum and learned more about EAA, I’m definitely coming back to Wisconsin to attend AirVenture 2008.

If I could make one recommendation to someone who is considering learning to fly, I’d say this: First, learn to fly in a Cub. Second, Steve and his staff absolutely love what they are doing so give him a call. They aren’t there because it’s a requirement and something they have to do. They are there because they love what they are doing and that makes the student’s job a whole lot easier—and more fun!

I’d like to thank my parents who made the event possible and gave me great moral support during the process. I’d also like to thank Steve and his wife, Sharon, who treated me as if I were their own. Thanks, too, to Kandace for putting up with my terrible turns around a point. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone at the Hartford airport for pulling for me and offering me daily encouragement. It was an incredible experience that wouldn’t have been half as fun without these people being a part of it. I made many new aviation friends who will always remain a part of me.

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