- May 12, 2024
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Flight instructor, Samantha Harrison, did not want to go to an airshow with her dad, when she was 15 years old. Because it was Father’s Day, and her dad often went with his dad, who was a retired Air Force pilot, Harrison decided to go to go.
“When I saw the aerobatic planes tumble, I remember telling my mom that I was going to do that,” Harrison said.” So, I decided that I wanted to fly, and there were no doubts about it.”
Harrison tried to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps and join the Air Force, but due to an injured shoulder, the Air Force Academy didn’t accept her.
The Akron native was, then, encouraged by her parents to join a flight school, so Harrison moved to Daytona and attended Regional Airline Academy in DeLand. Before leaving to head to the sunshine state, Harrison took a discovery flight to make sure that her heart was really into flying.
“My first flight lesson was in the summer of 2006, in Ohio. I took a discovery flight,” she said. “They allowed me to take controls, and I loved it. I loved the scenery. It was a bird’s eye view of everything. I was able to see Lake Eerie, Cleveland, and it was a gorgeous scene.”
At the flight school, Harrison learned everything she needed to know about flying, and she began to fly on her own at the end of her training. While her training and flight career has been free of any serious danger threats, Harrison remembers one event that nearly ended her early flight plans.
“I was working on my commercial training, so I was spending lots of time on my own,” Harrison said. “I was flying from DeLand to Hilton Head, South Carolina. I got into clear air turbulence, and it was bumpy. There was a point where I completely lost control of the plane because of the turbulence. I remember the plane rolling in one direction, and I turned the other direction, and nothing happened. I just remember me thinking, ‘I’m not sure I’m going to make it through this flight.’ I eventually landed, but that experience almost made me quit flying.” Nevertheless, Harrison went forward, after a pep talk from her flight instructor, Joe Levly.
With over eight years of flying and 2,000 hours of certified flight instruction experience, Harrison has begun to give flight lessons in Palm Coast, at the Flagler County Airport.
“My first desire to teach came to me while in the air,” she said. “I was looking out across the horizon and realized that this was my classroom.”
Harrison’s best moments are when she is able to get her students to the point where they have succeeded flight school. Her biggest disappointments are when she can’t others over certain humps in their training.
“I acknowledge that not every instructor is meant for every student, but I hate not being to think outside the box enough to get the student where he needs to get.”
Harrison begins teaching students at ground school. There, they learn all the base knowledge of flying, and then, there’ a progression from learning to fly straight level, climbing and descending, learning the fundamental controls. Once the students are ready to get into the plane, Harrison builds on that knowledge and teaches her students how to land the plane.
“Every flight, after the first few, we do landings, because that’s going to be the hardest thing that they’ll learn throughout flight school,” she added.
Harrison’s progression of lessons begins at the private level, which teaches how to fly in clear weather. From there, students go to instrument lessons, where Harrison teaches the controls and how to fly in a cloudy weather. Then, they learn commercial, which is where pilots make money, and from there, they can either go to
Emergency and Procedures Training or flight instruction.
“I love that I get to share the moments when students are ready to fly on their own,” Harrison said. “Those are my proudest moments.”
Serendity Aviation is located at 201 Airport Road. For more information, call 904-891-0390.
