The sky? Clear, speckled with puffed clouds.The weather? 72 degreeswith a slight breeze. Runway 27? Clear for take off.The pilot, sophomore TJ Steggman,checks the airplane’s controlsand makes a radio check. Last item: check the engine. He holds the brakes and pushes the throttle. He makes one last call to the control tower.

“St. Charles Community Airspace, November 3457 Foxtrot taking off runway 2-7.”

He pauses, looking through his aviators at the 1,000 foot stretch of asphalt ahead of him. He pushes the throttle up, the engine roars and the plane jerks forward, bouncing with divots in the runway. The plane accelerates from standstill to 85 mph in a mere 10 seconds. Then, Bernoulli’s Principle takes charge; the plane ceases to be earth bound.

* * *

TJ Steggman has been around planes since he was 6-weeks-old. His father, Rob, who is a corporate commercial

pilot, introduced TJ to avionics at a young age. He first flew a plane at 7-years-old when his father took him up. Since then, he has logged over 200 hours of flight time, which is 120 hours more than the required amount for the private flying license.

“I like it because you can be free,

you have a lot of responsibility,” Steggman

said. “There is always something

to learn while flying.”

Three months ago, Steggman tried for his solo license. His intent was to get it on Feb. 2. However, the weather was too bad to fly that day, so he was forced to go for it the day after.

“I was a little mad, a little disappointed,” Steggman said. “Obviously a hard decision to make.”

It didn’t matter which day Steggman took it, he had the confidence that he would get it regardless. He received his solo license on Feb. 3 and since has been enrolled in the

avionics school available at the airport his family houses their plane. His father feels more comfortable with an

instructor teaching him to fly, rather than himself.

“It’s better to have a guy who does that every day do that,” Rob said. “I might let him go up just because I want him to be ready, but an instructor will make sure that he is ready. They don’t care if he goes up or not.”

Steggman and his father have a bond in flight. They frequently go flying together, using a 1967 Cessna 182 that TJ’s father restored. They do mechanical work on planes together. They are rebuilding an engine so it will run on regular gasoline, as opposed to standard avionic fuel. They’ve spent the past two years restoring a 1946 Luscan single-engine plane. In fact, Steggman is planning on going into the same profession as his father. The next step for TJ is to get his private flying license when he turns 17. After that he’ll go for his multi-engine license, then his instrument grading license, and finally, his DATR. And

as hard as it will be for Steggman, for him, there’s no other choice.

“It feels cool to get into your flying attitude,” Steggman said. “I love going up and being free.”