By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
By Miguel Suarez-Cabal
Photographer: COURTESY
Francisco Pages, a junior, takes flight in his legendary steed, the Cessna-172.
MIAMI | Enter: Francisco Pages, a 16-year-old junior who by day studies for school, and by afternoon flies planes to achieve his goal of becoming an expert pilot. He earned his private pilot’s license this past January at Miami Executive Airport. Currently, he is flying quite frequently, as piloting is no laughing matter. Becoming a pilot is no easy feat for the steps it takes are as follows:
- Research pilot schools
- Take an admissions flight
- Apply for a Federal Aviation Administration medical certificate.
- Apply for FAA student pilot certificate.
- Start flight training lessons.
- Pass private pilot knowledge test.
- Pass private pilot practical exam.
It takes a minimum of 1,500 hours of flying to become a certified airline pilot.
“My godfather got me into flying,” said Francisco.
Back in the 1980s, Francisco’s godfather worked as a cargo pilot. In 2010, he became a flight instructor for Amerijet. Francisco got into flying because when he turned 13 his godfather took him to a 767-200 flight simulator.
Although flying is an extremely stressful job for many, Francisco says otherwise. For him, the hum of a plane is like a relaxing melody while the intense maneuvers leave him absolutely obsessed with aviation.
“My favorite part about flying is landing because everyone judges you and everyone remembers their first landing,” he explained.
Francisco compares landing a plane to a dance competition. The judges hold up signs on how well the performer did, but the only difference is everybody is a judge, and the pilot is performing one of the most dangerous parts of flying a plane.
“My least favorite thing is paperwork, like flight plans,” he said.
A flight plan consists of the future air traffic as well the fuel calculation. For commercial airliners, plans are made up to seven months in advance.
“I feel a sense of pressure when I fly, but at the same time I feel peace," Francisco said.
This is a slightly edited version of an article originally published May 23, 2024 in Immaculata-La Salle High School's student newspaper, The Royal Courier. The writer, Miguel Suarez-Cabal, is now a senior who serves as feature and news editor of the newspaper.
