While some people spend their summer tanning or going to Florida, senior Jace Recker received his private pilot license. Recker was introduced to flying five years ago when his dad got his private pilot license.

“My dad got his license about five years ago, and I did a bunch of flying with him. I would sit shotgun, and it was super cool,” Recker said. 

Recker learned a lot from watching his father. This is when he started the process for attaining a license of his own.

“My dad introduced me, but I had four different instructors because they kept quitting. I ended up with the owner of the Pella Airport.”

According to Recker, getting your license can be a very long, stressful and difficult process. It comes with a lot of studying, and it requires a lot of time.

“There is so much unnecessary bookwork you need to know,” said Recker. “You need to know a lot of things that I’m not even in charge of [as a pilot]. It was a lot of just studying.” 

According to Recker, the actual flying portion isn’t the most difficult part of learning how to fly. To him, landing is the hardest part.

“The most challenging part for me is learning how to land because that is very specific.”

Recker officially got his license on the first of July. 

“I was super excited. I had been working really hard, and it was a really big deal,” said Recker.

Recker likes to fly anywhere in Iowa, and he is trying to hit all of the airports in Iowa. He tries to fly as much as he can, but with the weather in Iowa, that can vary. At this point, Recker plans to go into a career with flying. 

“The goal is to become a commercial pilot, go to the University of Dubuque, and get all my stuff done there.” 

He states that becoming a pilot, it takes a lot of money, but that it isn’t as challenging as many people make it seem.  To Recker, it is worth it.

“I just like how freeing it is. To be completely alone in the air. You’re completely in control; it’s awesome.”

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