The first stage of a dream that began when he was just four years old happened for Logan Neubauer, 16, on Wednesday morning when he flew solo for the first time. Neubauer steps out of the aircraft, near the Super T Aviation hangar at Medicine Hat Regional Airport, and greets his instructor William Shivas.--NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
It was the day when dreams took flight.
Logan Neubauer, 16, took to the skies Wednesday morning in his first solo flight and the next step in a career he hopes will be in aviation.
In May 2019, Prairie Rose School Division announced a working relationship with Super T Aviation to offer a three-year flight academy program to Grade 10 students at Eagle Butte High School. Students would be able to achieve a private pilot’s licence in about three years.
Teacher Jimi Ricci says 11 students enrolled the first year and Logan is the first to go solo. There is generally about 20 hours of flying with an instructor before a student goes solo.
William Shivas, instructor with Super T, says Logan progressed quite quickly and was ready after 15 hours.
“He’s a joy to work with … an excellent student,” said Shivas, standing outside Super T while his student was flying a circuit overhead. He said it felt a little like a mother watching a kid go off to school for the first time.
Soon Logan made a gentle landing and taxied back to an aircraft hangar. As he emerged from the aircraft he looked very calm.
“There were definitely some nerves but at the end of the day I had practised a lot and did what I have done before,” said Logan with a broad smile.
Logan sees the solo flight as the first step to his long-term goal of joining the military as a pilot.
Watching the momentous occasion from the sidelines were his father Mark and mother Nichole.
Mark says he knew his son was “confident and skilled” but it was still “nerve-racking” to watch – particularly the landing.
“Proud moment,” he said, choked with emotion. “Hard to believe.”
Nichole says Logan has aspired to be a pilot from the age of four.
Logan says it was watching the movie Top Gun, about a young naval aviator aboard an aircraft carrier, that made him determined to learn to fly and join the military.
“He has tenacity and commitment – he was born to be a pilot,” said Nichole.
She said parents are to give roots and also wings to their children but she had not realized just how literal that would be for her.
Logan is part of the “Dave Rozdeba South Alberta Flight Academy,” named in honour of the late Dave Rozdeba who lost a battle with cancer in 2017. In addition to being a teacher at Eagle Butte High School Rozdeba was an aviation enthusiast and was instrumental in organizing the Family Fun and Flight events at Medicine Hat Regional Airport. He was committed to aviation and his family’s connection to Canada’s first RCAF aerobatic flying team – the Golden Hawks.
Logan says when he heard about the program he was “overjoyed” and immediately wanted to enrol.
Some of the cost is covered under programs within the school but there is also a tuition fee that parents of the students are responsible for.
Ricci says in the first year of the program, of the 11 students , six were girls and five boys. There are 12 enrolled for next year and they all happen to be boys.
