Flying solo
Sunday, December 24, 2006 6:46 PM PST
Jennifer Colton
Argus Observer
Ontario
Colton Haffner, Ontario, said he has always dreamed of flying.
“When he was little, he would always ask me ‘why can’t we fly,’ or he’d say, ‘I wish I was a bird.’ I guess it was born in him,” Darlene Haffner, Colton Haffner’s mother, said.
Colton Haffner took his first flying lesson at age 11, has a collection of books on aviation and aviation history and has served on the Ontario Air Faire Committee for two years.
“He’s been flying here (Ontario Municipal Airport) for a couple of years now, but you can’t fly solo until you’re 16,” Roger Smith, Air Faire Chairman and family friend, said.
So Thursday, on his 16th birthday, instead of heading to the DMV, Haffner set his sights higher. Much higher.
“He got up at 5:30, went to Boise and had his medical exam,” Darlene Haffner said. The medical certification — one you cannot take until age 16 — is one requirement for making solo flights, along with a student pilot certification Haffner also achieved Thursday in Boise.
The flight was scheduled for 3 p.m., but when snow started falling across the Treasure Valley, chances of Haffner making his first solo flight dropped, and the airplane remained in Caldwell.
“If the plane was here, we could have done it,” Chris Butler, Haffner’s flying instructor, said.
Flight or no flight, the family still held a surprise birthday party in Smith’s hangar at the airport, serving a cake decorated with a plane and runway, with the candles serving as runway lights.
“Now all we need is a plane,” Colton Haffner said.
Guests and family made plans for the flight the next day, providing the weather improved, and compared stories about other first solo flights.
“Ask any pilot and they’ll tell you they remember their first solo,” Butler said.
And if memories are not enough, tradition gives the pilot a memento.
“It’s tradition to cut off their shirt tail and write ‘first solo’ on it, and then everyone signs it,” Smith said. “So now he’ll be 16 and one day when he makes his first solo.”
Although he began flying at 11, Haffner said he would recommend starting later.
“I wouldn’t start too long,” he said. “I ran into that problem — the math is pretty hard. I just now started to actually figure it out.”
Haffner said his overall goal is to become a corporate pilot, working for a specific company instead of an airline.
“I like the lifestyle better,” he said. “As a commercial pilot, you’re gone all the time.”
This month, Haffner has flown three times a week, preparing for his solo flight, and for the last couple months, Haffner has flown twice a month.
“Every flight is cool,” he said. “It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do. I used to take plastic bags, put them on my arms and jump off the pool table and tried to fly.”
Friday, Haffner finally gained his chance for his solo flight. He made the solo flight the day after his 16th birthday and made three solo landings and a final stop.
“It was born in him,” Darlene Haffner said. “He gets up there and that’s where he belongs.”
