I grew up watching the birds from the moment I could form memories, always wishing I could be up there with them. I have memories of building model planes and white wings, playing in the backyard with foamies, watching the planes land and take off from Piper Memorial Airport in Lock Haven, PA, all with dad. We shared a fondness for aviation. In college, I pursued my pilot's license with the intent to fly commercially. Got my PPL in the summer between freshmen and sophomore year in 2004. It was one of the proudest moments of my life, the next day after my checkride, I took my dad up as my first passenger...3 months later, I lost him to lung cancer. Fast forward to 2018, I haven't flown since 2005 and I come across Tucker's flight to McDonald's. At that moment, my life took a turn for the better and I knew I had to get back into flying through this. Eventually, I dove in and signed up for training 2 years later at AviatorPPG, and had another extremely moving moment with my first solo there. It was Judson's first class when he was an intern and I remember the hug from him and the rest of my new family at the time. That was summer 2020, my silver lining of the year. Since then, I have flown almost every chance I could, while wanting to share the joy with the world through pics and vids. JP Tulo is a big inspiration for the type of quick, catchy content I like to mess around with. In May, this year, I experienced the shared deep sadness from the loss of a dear friend, Jeff Chorba. Anytime he wasn't there, the question my parabuddies and I always asked was "what's Jeff up to, is he coming?" He mentored us, he laughed with us, he inspired us to be better pilots. Coping with his loss has brought us NEPA fliers closer together. I often think about what Jeff once told me over the phone, "we know the risks, but we do it anyway because if we deprive ourselves of that which we love, we also deprive ourselves of life." He and my Dad now share the view through my eyes of the awe this sport has to deliver. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jade-lear/message