Brooke Heads to Flight Safety International

Over the past few months, a lot has changed for Curt and René’s daughter, Brooke, who’s looking to become a pilot. Just a few weeks ago, Brooke officially made the move to Vero Beach, Florida, to attend Flight Safety International. At Flight Safety International, Brooke will be a full-time student, as opposed to taking sporadic lessons here and there like she was prior.

Before she officially took the plunge, Brooke took a tour of the campus with her parents.

“They gave me a beautiful tour, and I saw all their planes,” Brooke said. “They take really good care of them, and their mechanics are really precautious.”

Brooke immediately took notice of the caution each staff member took, which gave her hope that she’d be learning to fly with the same level of caution that their mechanics operated with.

“For us, they’ll ask us stuff like, ‘When was the last time you had something to drink?’ and ‘How many hours of sleep did you get last night?’ and ‘How are you feeling today?’,” Brooke said, “and they do that with the mechanics, too. They take very strict measures on making sure everything is good. If anything were to happen, it’d be pilot error, because the mechanics are so spot-on. That was definitely encouraging to know that I’m safe, and also to know that I’ll be learning from people like that.”

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Brooke won’t officially start classes until April 2, but she’s already had an opportunity to meet a number of her fellow students, many of which she said are international.

“They have something like 90 percent international students, so that’s really awesome to know that I’ll also be learning alongside international students and hearing all their accents,” Brooke said.

She also learned that, instead of jumping around from one small municipal airport to the next, she’ll get to experience flights into and out of Class B commercial airports. Although commercial airports can be nerve racking, Brooke’s looking forward to the challenge.

“They fly to so many Class B airports, so I’ll be getting used to flying through commercial airports, as well as all the private airports that are down here,” Brooke said. “That’s really encouraging, because Class B airports are a little intimidating. It’s literally Class B for ‘busy,’ so it’s intense.”

If all goes as planned, Brooke will have her PPL within two years of her start date, and she may very well end up being a CFI (Chief Flying Instructor), as well, allowing her to teach future students how to fly.

“I would like that, but it depends on how long it takes,” Brooke said of becoming a CFI.

One unique aspect of Flight Safety International that most local flight schools don’t offer is the option to take a variety of classes in addition to your typical flight school, which Brooke hopes to take advantage of.

“There are other things that they offer, too, like I could take an air traffic control class and learn about how the tower guys handle business, too,” Brooke said.

For now, she’ll focus on basic flight school while she adjusts to her new living situation and her new full-time class schedule.

We’ll check back in with Brooke in a few weeks to see how she’s doing!

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