Nik Groen, 16, a Live Oak High School junior, started flying when he was 14. He recently took his first solo flight, after flying with his instructor, Charles Jackson, pictured at left, once a month for more than a year.”It’s a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of determination,” he said. Now that he’s met one goal, his first solo flight, he’s looking ahead to earning his private pilot’s license. He hopes to do that when he’s 17, he said. To earn the license, he has to pass a written test and complete longer flights. The final test is a ‘check flight’ with an instructor he’s never flown with, similar to the road test a driver must pass to become licensed.
Groen is also preparing to work on his Eagle Scout project. If his scout leadership approves it, he hopes to build a memorial flagpole for the Wings of History Aircraft Museum in San Martin.
