Senior Jack Gwennap is flying into his future at an unprecedented rate. Gwennap took interest in being a pilot at 15, partially because of his fear of flight. Though he had the idea at 15, he always had influence from the books and documentaries about planes he would read and watch as a child, though Gwennap elaborated that it was “more out of fear than out of interest.”

In Sept. of 2024, Gwennap began attending Aviation Adventures at the Warrenton-Fauquier Airport to get his private license to fly. Once or twice a week from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm he trains at the flight school in addition to online work. He describes his daily routine, stating, “After you talk with your instructor about any questions you have about what you’re doing that day or about the worksheets and online work, you go upstairs to the actual flight room school itself…and then you get the keys, go out to the plane and pre-flight the plane – which takes about twenty to thirty minutes – you get in the air, you do what you need to do and you come back and land.”

After he’s flown, Gwenapp still has other responsibilities for the day. He described them, explaining, “I’m usually the last one to fly because I come so late in the day, so I’m responsible for putting the cover back on the plane, returning the binder, filling out the plane’s flight logbook and then I’m good to go.” The whole process of attending flight school takes an intense amount of effort with the memorization needed, as well as the high stakes that come with flying aircraft. This took a toll on Gwenapp early in his education, as he states, “When I first started getting a lot of my maneuvers were really difficult for me because I was always so scared about something happening to the plane.”

After Gwenapp finishes his training at Aviation Adventures and gets his private license, he plans to get all his other certifications from ATP Flight School in Manassas, Va. Afterwards, his plan is to work as a flight instructor for two years in order to get the hours required to fly the planes used by Airline companies so he can work as a pilot under one of them. He intends on going to college at the same time as working as a flight instructor so he can eventually be a captain. Gwennap explains, “To be a captain you have to hold an associate’s degree or higher, so I’m going to do online college while I’m a flight instructor.”

Despite still being in high school, Gwenapp already has clear plans for the future and the motivation to reach it.