Path to PPG: Back from the depths of the internet – pursuing the magic of flight.

My last post was almost a year ago, and it wan’t even mine. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t inspired to post anything – seemed like my tech projects weren’t interesting, my recipes were repeating and my Dad relevant posts were unfounded or common knowledge. I even gave up on the podcasts, because they were a pain to edit and I was putting too much pressure on my self to find new and interesting content and/or guests.

So, what am I doing here?

They say that “it only takes a well placed spark… to ignite the dormant flame of inspiration.” Steven Moses was that well placed spark. He happens to be my first Patreon supporter and the reason I’ve been inspired to share the up coming content with you:

I decided to challenge myself to finally complete something. To do something I’ve always wanted to do – something that I started when I was 16, and always had a passion for; flight.

This is me when I was about 19 – my then “future wife” took the picture. Final approach on runway 19 N14. This also happened to be my last flight.

When I was 16, I started taking flight lessons at my local airport. It started with Flight Camp, then an hour here or there ( certain aviation qualifications are awarded based on how many “hours” you have behind the wheel (yoke); like a Private Pilot’s License) and progressed to a more frequent schedule after I got my first job. My grandmother saw how much I was enjoying flying and bought a bundle of hours as a gift. Unfortunately, the school I was attending went out of business almost over night during a change of ownership at the airport. A lack of documentation and financial reporting resulted in me loosing my credit with the previous school, and so it wasn’t honored at the new facility.

As you can imagine, flight school wasn’t something I could afford  with a minimum wage, part time job at $68-$110 per hour of flight time with an instructor. But, from the time I was 16 -19 I was able to log close to 31 hours (9 hours short of my first solo flight) in a handful of aircraft, and I had a BLAST!

I’ve always had a passion for flight – from the time I tried flapping my arms and jumping off a playhouse in the back yard at the age of 6. Flying was always a fantasy for me. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Radio Flyer,” that was me! They could have based that movie on my childhood. I think my parents saw that and it was probably the reason they tapped into the “couch cushion savings” to get me into flight camp – a completely unexpected yet immensely welcomed surprise!

“Radio Flyer” the movie. I made something similar, way before the movie came out – 🙂

The fantasy was always about “escaping gravity.” Having Cerebral Palsy was never fun, and being able to “release” myself from its limitations  was a mostly unrealistic goal, but ever-present. If I never had to walk again and was forced to fly everywhere – that was fine with me.

One of the books I read from page to page multiple times in Middle School.

Enter an adolescence ‘s obsession with how things worked. I wanted to know what made planes, helicopters and even birds fly. I read every volume of our Encyclopedia Britanica and tapped my middle school’s library for all it was worth!

Fast forward 30 years. I’m a father of 2, husband of 1 and a friend to many, yet still flightless. My pilot’s log is probably dry-rotted in the attic, and my dreams of flying have long since been shattered.

You may be asking – Why don’t you just find another flight school and continue where you left off?

I DID! and I WILL!

I’m excited to announce and share with you my path to PPG! Sometime in 2018 (date TBD – working on logistics) I will be traveling to Lake Wales, FL to take flight training at Aviator Paramotor (Aviator PPG) to receive flight training and a PPG rating to fly paramotors!

Scout Carbon
The “Scout Carbon” – this is the dream ladies and gentlemen! Some would say the best on the market!

Technically with a Paramotor, I don’t need a license or rating to start flying. I could just buy one, fuel it up and go! But, people who do stupid things like that get themselves in trouble with regulations they didn’t bother learning; they rush and get hurt. I choose to learn from the best, have fun and join their flying family!

I have some hurtles that I’m going to need to clear in order make this happen.  One that comes to mind  –  I have Cerebral Palsy.  Its not a big deal, because when push comes to shove I can still “Gump it and jump!”

Even so, there is a more immediate challenge: on top of the CP, I currently have a sprained ankle that I keep re-aggravating. It’s very painful and I can’t even “Gump it” (run) if I wanted to. That’s why this is called my “Path to PPG.” I’m on the road to recovery, then strength training to be able to run with 50+ lbs on my back and take flight that fateful day in 2018 in FL.

Thank you all for your support as I finally realize one of my life goals. And thanks again to Steven Moses for being the spark I needed to share again.

If you would like to join Steven, please Become a Patreon Supporter to make it easier for me to bring you interesting content and PPG related updates in the future!

Special Thanks to Steven Moses, Flite Test, Tucker Gott and Aviator PPG for the inspiration and the insight to realize my dream!

Featured Image (top) was “borrowed” from Tucker Gott’s YouTube page. Great Photo Tucker!
How did you like this post? Take a second to support Cerebral Dad on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!