Christian Bucks knew that he was born to fly since he was nine-years-old. At the end of the summer 2022 he officially became a pilot, completing the first milestone in his journey to fly at a higher level.

    “I’ve always wanted to be a pilot ever since my uncle told me stories about flying, and I always loved traveling so I thought it would be a good idea to be a pilot one day,” said Bucks. 

    Bucks was able to start flying towards his pilot’s license once he turned 16-years-old. He started training for his license at the end of January 2022. Flight training can take its pilot to some cool airports which makes for good memories, something Bucks was able to experience. 

    “I did all my training in Lancaster, but the cool thing about it is you get to travel to different airports and different places. I had the opportunity to fly to Penn State, Bloomsburg and a whole bunch of different places for my training,” he said. 

    Every pilot has their strengths and weaknesses in the training process to improve, and each pilot is different. Bucks had his strengths, and also had things he struggled with that needed to be worked on improving. 

    “For me the flying part was easy, it just kind of came naturally, I was much better at flying. What came hard was all the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) knowledge, knowing all the rules and studying that was the hardest part for me,” said Bucks.

    For pilots to get their license there are several tests outside of flying that they need to do. This can be very time consuming. 

    To be able to test a minimum of 35 hours of flight training had to be accomplished and pilots needed to be 17-years-old, then in-class training had to be done. Next the written test takes about an hour. Furthermore a five hour test at the airport which consists of an oral exam where questions are asked, and finally the flying portion.

    Bucks’ main goal is to be an airline pilot, but there are several other certifications that he will have to acquire to reach his goal. With the Private Pilot Certification which he just received, the sky’s the limit.

    “I still have a bunch more certifications that I still need to get to become an airline pilot…There is instrument, multi engine, commercial license, instructor’s license and then air transport,” said Bucks. 

    Bucks has been flying a lot of hours since getting his license and also has been able to fly some friends, one being sophomore Aden Thompson.

    “He is a good pilot,”said Thompson.