Category: Thomas Ye

I was quite busy in July; not only did I schedule several flight lessons, but I also had to fill out a lot of paperwork such as the rental airplane and pre-solo exam, as well as complete the Washington DC Special Flight Rule Area (SFRA) training to prepare for my final solo. At the same time, I worked part-time for my summer jobs and supported my drone team to prepare them to compete in the UAS4STEM competition hosted at the 2025 EAA Airventure.

Just about every day I was able to fly (for two main reasons): 1) My work schedule at the time conflicted a lot with my flight instructors Nick and Zac’s schedules, and so with their recommendation, I had CFI Mitch join the instructor crew to support my flight lessons. With three instructors, it was much easier for me to find a suitable time slot for my flight lessons. 2) Aero Elite acquired a new Cessna 172N with tail number N50906. Due to the plane being a new addition, as well as a much older model with more modest avionics, I was able to fly this airplane a lot in July.

During my flights, I mainly practiced pattern work – touch and gos, radio communications with the tower – and reviewed stalls and slow flights. After several solo flight mockups, I was ready for the real one.

On June 7th, I ran into Cadet Captain Kramp from my Civil Air Patrol squadron; Steven and I participated in the same squadron cadet program together for about three years. Steven was working part-time as a fuel truck driver at the Leesburg airport, and he refueled my Cessna 172N for me before my flight.

Steven also enrolled at the same flight academy, Aero Elite Flight Training, to learn to fly with the financial support from his part-time job at the airport. This also gave me the idea to help fund my flight lessons next summer, after I complete my solo flight this summer with the support of the scholarship from the Flying Musicians Association.

On the morning of June 5th, for my 8th flight, my CFI Nick was back from his family vacation. Under his supervision, I was able to successfully take off from the Leesburg airport without his assistance. I was so happy that I made another major milestone in my flight lesson journey. Then I had my high school graduation that night, and high school was finally over for me!

Then on Friday afternoon of June 6th, I had CFI Zack again since Nick had a schedule conflict. The afternoon weather was not perfect, and it was raining heavily when I arrived at the airport. I asked Zack if we needed to cancel the lesson. Zack checked the weather forecast and suggested that I practice my flight in the simulator for the first hour, and check back when the storm passed the area. I was glad that he made that suggestion, as I successfully landed my airplane without assistance that afternoon.

CFI Zack set up the simulator with the Leesburg Airport setting, and admittedly, the simulator was much harder to fly compared to the real airplane because it was very sensitive, and there was no motion turned on at the time. But it indeed prepared me very well for my landing practice.

After the storm passed the airport area, I was able to circle the airport to practice my flight control. There was not a lot of airplane traffic near the airport due to the past rainstorm, and when Zach felt comfortable, he gave me the permission to land the airplane.

After I successfully landed the airplane at Leesburg airport,  Zach gave a big high-five and cheered for me, and he also took a picture of me with the airplane – Cessna Skyhawk 172N for my first successful landing without assistance.

On June 3rd, at the senior award ceremony event, I was honored with the 2025 Spring Langley High School Performing Art Award for auditioning and performing at the district honors orchestra. This is my second performance art award earned at Langley High School during my 4-year journey with my high school orchestra.

This past week, for my 6th and 7th flights, I ended up with a different airplane model—the Cessna 172N—due to the availability of the aircraft. I had a nice surprise flying this aircraft model: I seemed to be flying the best on this model of aircraft, despite it being older.

I performed steep turns, followed by slow flight with a focus on controlling airspeed during a descent to simulate landings, power-off stalls, and some turns around a point. My CFI Zack, said that I had the best flight control on my 6th flight lesson, and I felt the most comfortable with this airplane, the Cessna 172N Skyhawk. From now on, I will try to book this flight model for my flight lessons.

On the night of May 28th at Langley High School’s auditorium, I had my last Philharmonic Orchestra performance of my 4-year high school violin journey.

Our repertoire included Kirt Mosier’s “Green Rhythmico”, Franz von Suppe’s “Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna”, as well as “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin.

At the end of performance, all senior students of the high school orchestra played  “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to celebrate the high school graduation, with a slideshow in the background with everyone’s baby photos.

I later thanked Dr. Scott McCormick (“Doc”), the Langley Orchestra director, for his mentorship for the wonderful 4-year music journey.

After the Memorial Day holiday, my primary CFI Nick took a week-long family vacation this week, so I asked Nick to recommend a CFI while he was away for vacation, and he recommended flight instructor Zack to work with me this week.

This past week the weather was pretty good; we were able to schedule 3 flights in close proximity and I got to try out the Cessna 172 R and S:

Tuesday, May 27th, even with some drizzling rain in the morning after my pre-flight safety check, we decided to take off. Despite the rain, the visibility was pretty decent and I was able to practice slow flight, power on and off stalls, taxiing, descending and taking off.

Thursday, May 29th, there seemed to be scattered cloud coverage ~2500AGL, but we quickly made it above to reinforce the same skills I learned the previous day.

Friday, May 30th, I practiced the same skills as the previous two days, but also began steep turns and ground reference maneuvers. Straight and level flight has become much easier at this point, and it has become more natural for me to look outside the plane to hold the attitude rather than staring at the Primary Flight Display and other instruments in the cockpit.

This is my first time working with CFI Zack and we had some great flights!

After two more cancelled flight lessons due to bad weather, I finally was able to take my second flight lesson with my CFI Nick this past Sunday afternoon (May 25th) at 4:00pm.

I spent 30 minutes this time on the preflight inspection for routine flight safety having been more familiar with the list and its procedures; I also got more comfortable with taxiing on the runway and taking off with less assistance. When the plane was in the air, I learned some new flight skills: slow flight, sharp turns, and an introduction to stalls, in addition to the regular level flight, turns, climbs, and descents.

I was very happy to complete my second flight and I had a lot of fun again! I look forward to flying more often as the upcoming weather looks favorable.

After several scheduled flight cancellations due to weather (strong winds and rain) and aircraft maintenance, I was finally able to complete my first flight lesson on the morning of Saturday, May 17th.

I got up at 7am and received a text from my CFI Nick (Aero Elite) that Leesburg Airport had a strong crosswind and we might have to cancel again. My father took me to the airport, and with me I brought the very nice pilot bag donated by Sporty’s. Meeting Nick at the airport lounge, I felt pretty lucky when he told me the wind slowed down a lot by the time I got there (albeit a small crosswind), and I was able to take my first flight that morning.

My first lesson involved a lot of basic yet crucial work: I spent more than 40 minutes on the preflight inspection for routine flight safety. Then I practiced some taxiing in a straight line as we made our way to the runway, taking off with a lot of assistance. When the plane was in the air, I learned straight and level flight, turns, climbs, and descents with assistance from my CFI.

I was very excited to complete my first flight and I had a lot of fun. At the end of my lesson we took a picture in front of the airplane—the Cessna 172S Skyhawk SP, and I look forward to flying again this week if the weather decides to play nice again.