Posted on 04/08/2020 9:36:46 AM PDT by lowbridge
TJ Kim can’t play lacrosse -- COVID-19 took the sport away. And at age 16, he can’t drive alone.
But Kim can fly. And he’s turned his flying lessons into missions of mercy, bringing desperately needed supplies to rural hospitals in need.
Each week, he carries gloves, masks, gowns and other equipment to small hospitals. When he made his first delivery, on March 27 to a 25-bed hospital in Luray, he was taken aback by the reception.
“They kind of conveyed to me that they were really forgotten about. Everyone was wanting to send donations to big city hospitals,” he said. “Every hospital is hurting for supplies, but it’s the rural hospitals that really feel forgotten.”
(Excerpt) Read more at fox5ny.com ...
Makes sense. Have your flying lesson involve a trip to someplace which needs supplies.
Wow, that’s a nice kid. Hope he’s careful and nothing goes wrong. We need people like him in this world.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is sometimes awarded to singers and professional golfers. I never quite understood that. I’d nominate this kid instead.
He is not old enough to have a pilot’s license. I doubt an instructor would allow him to fly to airports the instructor has not flown to previously with the student.
My 18 year old son is finishing his PL. But his flight academy is shut down. He has to wait - no flying at all.
Right, in our day in the 70s and 80s, when there were no greatly-needed supplies, we’d simply take our instructor along for the “$100 hamburger” to an airport 45-100 miles away.
Later, after amassing some wealth in our workaday world, we volunteered for various, organized mercy flights of people (often kids and their parents or relatives) that needed transportation to far-away hospitals, but couldn’t afford the $8000 ambulance rides. We’d fly ‘em for free, counting the gas and oil as a charitable donation.
rx, COMM-SEL, -MEL, CFI-IA
Did you read the article? Guess not.
Indeed he may be given it if the news reaches the right people.
Did you read my post? Guess not!
The kid is not Pilot in Command! He is instructed or going along for the ride. Hence my comment.
The article intimates that the kid is doing it all on his own. He isn’t.
Nice story!
My son in law had his pilot’s license at 16 yo. He flew on his own quite a lot. There may be places where kids can still fly young.
Many of us have heard of teenagers who soloed an airplane on their 16th birthday.
These teenagers probably started flying years before they were eligible for a student-pilot certificate.
Not to bore you with my younger son’s story, but he got his private pilot license on the day he turned 16, was hired by a regional airline when he was 21; and now flies A-330s out of Seattle to the Far East and Europe.
He got a modest inheritance from a great grandfather, and never borrowed a dime.
You can solo at 16 but can’t get your license until 17. FAA.
Maybe different countries are different.
14 for soloing in gliders.
License for balloons and gliders is 16.
Earliest solo flight in powered flight (gyros, helicopters and fixed wing powered) is 16.
Earliest license for fixed wing powered flight is 17.
You could google it or I would be happy to post the exact FAA regulation as needed.
That may be true but the requirement of solo at 16 and licensure at 17 has been in place for decades. Since at least 1990s when I got my license.
It is on the FAA Private Pilot Exam...
My granddaughter got her pilot's license when she 17... Flew lots, all over Florida, until she went off to college... As a goal, a plane is going to be her first "extravagant" purchase when she gets out of med school... We'll see...
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