https://tucson.com/opinion/column/arizona-opinion-aerial-advantage-general-aviation-is-vital-for-state/article_b8a731e4-da55-11ee-978c-ab04b5b7503f.html

I was barely 16 the first time I flew solo. Fear and freedom existed in me simultaneously. I looked to the right for Charles Deal my 20 something talented instructor. He was absent. I alone responsible for what I do right and wrong. I fell in love with flying and its gifts then and there. 

Fast forward two years. I’m flying an old Cessna 152 somewhere between Mesa, Arizona’s Falson Field and Fountain Hills with a bird’s eye view of the Superstitions.

Chas Harell, gritty as hell and direct as a man can be, my instructor. “Kempton, put the bird in a 60-degree bank with full flaps, do a complete 360 and don’t lose a damn inch in altitude. Outside 110 degrees. The plane had no A/C.  I was hot. the plan was hot. Chas Harrell intimidated the hell out of me. I knew I couldn’t do it.

I put the machine in a steep bank. My palms barely gripping the sweat-soaked yoke. 360 complete and a 1500-foot loss of altitude. 

“Kempton, dammit, do it again!” 

I did. 2000 feet lower this time. Cactus twice as big. 

“Kempton, Son of bitch, do what it takes, NOW!”

I managed to filter out my insecurities. I listened to myself and no one else. 360 degrees later, not an inch lost. 30 seconds of struggle felt like an hour. The demons screaming I’m not capable silenced by will and a strong leader next to me.

Freedom and Fear coexist. It makes us human.

I now, as in this article, fly often for work reasons and find home wrapped in thin metal and the meditative hum of my Cessna T210.