INVERNESS, Fla. — Monte Mishoe fulfilled his lifelong dream in less than three months.

“I mean, what kid doesn’t want to get in a plane and fly?” he said. "I happened to see the sign out by the road that said 'learn to fly,' and that’s when I stopped in.” 

The program, offered through Right Rudder Aviation in Inverness, launched last March, right when everything started to shut down because of the pandemic.

The FAA-approved program for a glider plane only requires 10 hours of training in the air. The rules and regulations portion is on your own time.

“We’re the only flight school that we know of in the whole entire country that is offering this type of program,” said Shavonna Reid, one of the commercial pilots at Right Rudder Aviation.

“One of the best parts about this program is that we can get people started flying and get people interested in aviation a lot earlier,” she said.

Students can start learning as early as 14 years old, but the license that students receive upon completion is not the average commercial pilot license.

“The training that we conduct for this private pilot glider program is done in a brand new Pipistrel Alpha trainer,” she said.

Reflecting on how long it took him to get his license, Mishoe said, “It’s crazy to think about at first, that you're actually going from no experience to actually flying a plane in the air by yourself.” 

Reid said skills learned during this training are transferable to other pilot licenses.

“If you choose to continue on and get a commercial license,” Reid said, “you can absolutely do that and count this time and experience toward your ultimate goal.” 

For more information on the program and the cost, head to the company's website.

Right Rudder Aviation's facility is in Inverness. (Spectrum Bay News 9/Katya Guillaume)