Pass at Saratoga County Airport!
One of our accomplished students, Emma, has been flying with Nick Passino since July 2 of 2025, and within those six months of hard work has completed her solo as of December 3.
A near perfect day for flying, light winds and clear skies, Emma entered the cockpit raring to go. She felt well prepared and practiced, a tad nervous but confident in her abilities. Beforehand, Emma and Nick had practiced the takeoffs and landing patterns a couple of times so that when she was finally in the air she was comfortable. “It felt like he was still with me,” Emma explained. “Like he was in the plane next to me just not speaking.”
For all her practice though, Emma says to always fly by the rule “expect the unexpected”, and that showed through during her solo. As smooth as she had wished it to be, pilots are bound to run into complications of some sort. For Emma, she had a beautiful take off, but when coming in for her landing, noted that a jet had pulled onto the runway. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, but the jet wasn’t acknowledging any radio calls effectively blocking her way. Emma pulled through, stayed calm, and re-entered her patterns going around again. Finally, the jet moved allowing her to land smoothly.
Emma is excited to be able to fly solo now, it was a huge confidence boost and a large step forward in her journey to becoming a licensed pilot and eventually flying for airlines. Next time you see a single-engine airplane flying overhead, think of Emma and her drive to be a pilot.
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