Freshman Ellie Stone owns a plane; well, her family does. Despite this, they are not able to fly very far, but the plane does the trick to get them to Mackinac Island and back. 

“The plane that we own isn’t that big, so we can’t go [to] really far places. But, my mom is in love with Mackinac Island, and so we go out there about once a month during the summer, which is really fun.”

Ellie has been learning how to fly planes for about three months, though it’s only been getting serious for about three weeks. As her dad is a professional pilot, he is the one who teaches and trains her along with her two elder brothers. 

Because Ellie is the youngest in her family, the priority for flying goes to her older brothers—one of which almost has his license—though she still manages to fly about once a week. Despite all this time flying, it can still be daunting for her to get in the air. 

“[Flying a plane is] very nerve wracking.” Ellie said. “It’s definitely scary, and it’s hard to get used to. Especially when so many things could go wrong. It’s surreal because I’ve been watching my dad fly all my life, and it’s fun to be able to do it myself.”

Seeing as many people fear just going on a plane, piloting one clearly takes a lot of bravery since it means you’re controlling everything. 

Much like any other activity, learning how to fly a plane takes hard work. For Ellie, while the end result is satisfying and fun, the effort put into it can make her a little bit less enthusiastic about the lessons. 

“It’s funny because sometimes you’re really excited to [start flying] if you haven’t in a while, but it’s still a type of school [for me],” Ellie said. “So, you kind of dread it at the same time just because it’s a lot of work, and it takes a lot of time and focus.”

Even though she doesn’t always love the work attached to it, Ellie pushes through it and, in the end, still loves flying. 

For someone who doesn’t fly very often, it can, of course, be scary to go on a plane. When Ellie brings her friends with her, they can be very nervous about it. However, they all agree that looking at the world from that perspective is astonishing. 

“The feeling of flying, especially when you’re new at it and if you’ve never done it before, is definitely a new experience,” Ellie said. “It can be very scary for people, and it can also be terrifying—for me, it’s not so much because I’m just so used to it. But, my dad has flown up some of my friends where that’s the first time they’ve been in a plane, and they were amazed because they’ve never seen the world from that point of view, which is very different.” 

For Ellie, because she has grown up with flying, she is more used to the amazing view; however, when she takes her friends up with her, they can be dumbstruck with how beautiful it is. 

“You don’t really know how small the world is until you’re in the air,” Ellie said.