LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. – How many people do you know who have a pilot’s license? Caleb Heenan, a Los Alamitos High School senior, recently earned his.

Growing up, Heenan always knew he wanted to be in aviation. His grandpa was a member of the Air Force, but no one else in his family had pursued a pilot’s license since. Heenan explained that he had wanted to pursue a career as a pilot for a while but realized that being a commercial pilot would require constant traveling. He was drawn to aerospace engineering because he wanted to stay around family and friends in one rooted area.

The seventeen-year-old initially took an online course that introduced concepts that would be on the test, similar to taking a Driver’s Ed course in preparation for the exam. Once he completed the course and exam, he took an actual test with a designated pilot examiner (DPE). He then focused on ground portions with his certified flight instructor (CFI) and learned about the plane itself and how to talk to air traffic controllers.

In total, he spent about 80 hours in a plane, with the minimum requirement being 40 hours. He flew cross-country flights to the San Diego area with and without his instructor. He also received an endorsement to take the practical (checkride) flight test, and he passed with flying colors!

For his first time in the skies, Caleb didn’t hop into the pilot seat of a Southwest American commercial plane. He began flying with a piston engine plane, which can seat up to six people. According to Caleb, piloting smaller planes means you can fly lower to the ground and feel more wind. Heenan has a VFR (Visual Flight Rules) license, which means he depends on ground landmarks to navigate the skies, since he is not flying as high as commercial jets.

When he started flying, Caleb found smooth landings the most difficult to grasp. He would end up landing on all three wheels at the same time, instead of giving enough back pressure from the back two wheels, to the main gear and then the nose and front wheel.

He vividly remembers his first smooth landing, when he transitioned weight from the back to front of the plan smoothly — a great example of practice paying off!

To simulate engine failure—which involves hurtling towards the ground at 100 miles per hour—and practice landing planes, Heenan would fly over the Port of Long Beach and golf courses in Palos Verdes.

With Caleb’s license, he can fly aircrafts up to 12,500 pounds without a type rating (a qualification for aircrafts with larger engines). If he wanted to fly different kinds of planes, he needs what’s called a complex endorsement, which is offered for planes with retractable landing gear, flaps and adjustable pitch propellers. 

To Caleb, a pilot’s license is a passport to all kinds of opportunities, which he plans on using to take his family on a day trip to Catalina.

Congratulations to Caleb Heenan. The sky’s the limit!