Student Spotlight: Joseph Bevan

By Evie Fordham

pilotWake Christian Academy senior Joseph Bevan can fly planes. He received his private pilot’s license in October of 2015 after completing forty hours of flight time and around forty hours of online lessons.

“You get to do something almost anybody else in the world can’t do,” he said, “[It’s] a sense of accomplishment.”

Joseph became fixated on flying after traveling by plane for the first time. Upon learning about the commercial pilot shortage as well as the merits of a career in aviation, he decided being a pilot was for him. He trained with Blue Line Aviation located out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Johnston County Airport. Five days a week, for nearly all of summer break, Joseph flew and studied.

“You start off as a co-pilot,” he said, “[The instructors] gradually let you take over flying the plane.”

Soon he had the minimum ten hours needed to fly solo. His first solo flight lasted only twenty minutes, but it was a turning point for Joseph.

“You really feel more confident,” he said, “Whenever you solo for the first time, you know you can do it.”

To Joseph, the biggest challenge when flying is keeping an eye out for danger when taking off and landing.

“You have to be situationally aware. If you’ve got a crosswind, you’ve got to know which wing to put down,” he said, “You want to avoid anything on the runway. Sometimes we were landing at night, and there would be a deer ten feet from the runway.”

Joseph, who has attended Wake Christian since kindergarten, is leaning toward attending the School of Aeronautics at Liberty University, to which he has already been accepted.

“I definitely want to go to flight school,” he said, “You don’t have to go to college, but it’s recommended … I want to go commercial. That would be fun to me.”

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