VIDEO: Taking Flight in the Golden Triangle

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI-TV) AAA predicts that around forty-five million Americans will be traveling for the Fourth of July this weekend.

For many it will be by car, and for others it will be by plane… but that doesn’t mean it’s always commercial flights.

For the last few years, flight instructors at the George M. Bryan Airport in Starkville have noticed an increase in people wanting to learn to fly.

Roger Keesling owns Keesling Air Rental and Training.  He says  that the interest in general aviation has grown dramatically, with pilots wanting to meeting personal and professional goals.

Flight instructor Caleb Cobb says, “Some people come in and want to learn how to fly because they want the freedom that an aircraft can bring, making that five hour ride down to the beach turn into a forty-five minute flight, which is wonderful.”

One of these new pilots with the desire to go pro is Starkville resident, Kenny Coats.

Coats says, “I am actually an air traffic controller through the Mississippi Air National Guard. I’m the guy in the tower who tells planes where to go, gives them clearances to take off and that sort of thing. So I really wanted to see the other side of things.”

Coats says it took him about five months to receive his private license.  It’s forty hours of flight time to meet the requirements for a private pilot’s license.

Bobby Sorrels is a flight instructor.  He sites the convenience of traveling on his own time table as benefit.