A New Pilot Shares Aviation with Millions

By Scott Spangler on December 27th, 2009

Flipping through the channels the other day I paused on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show because the guest, Zach Braff of Scrubs fame, said a word that caught my ear, “Cirrus.” It seems he’s a new pilot, and to appear on the show, which is taped in California, he flew himself across the nation from his home in New York, and the audience cheered and applauded this announcement.

Braff-Cirrus

Saying that learning to fly was the fulfillment of a lifetime dream, Braff showed pictures from his flight, him smiling at a rear-seat passenger from the left seat and the left wing of the Cirrus above a solid blanket of clouds the color of burnished butterscotch in the late afternoon sun. Trying to describe the ineffable feelings of climbing through the layer and  being the only living thing in sight all he could says was, “It is amazing.”

Google led me to an article, Super Fly, Braff penned for BestLife, by the editors of MensHealth. Of learning to fly he wrote, “I earned my pilot’s license this past November, and it was one of the coolest moments of my life.”

His enthusiasm for flight and all of its benefits was an early Christmas present in a year buried in coal. As this year, which has not been the kindest to aviation, winds to a welcome close, my holiday hope is that 2010 will embody the enthusiasm of all new pilots and will begin a gentle cruise climb to better days that are peaceful and prosperous because people in all endeavors are working toward a common goal, not fighting each other for a larger slice of a shrinking pie. – Scott Spangler

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This entry was posted on Sunday, December 27th, 2009 at 11:42 pm and is filed under Airports, Aviation Marketing, Blogging, Flight Training, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Responses to “A New Pilot Shares Aviation with Millions”

  1. Patrick Flannigan Says:
    December 29th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

    I saw the interview on Ellen and was quite impressed that he flew himself from New York to Hollywood. That’s quite a journey, even at the comfortable cruise speed of the Cirrus SR22.

    Good on Zack for sharing his love of aviation with the masses. Maybe it will inspire a few fans to check out the local airport and take a demo flight.

  2. David Parker Brown Says:
    January 3rd, 2010 at 1:29 am

    I normally don’t follow celebrities, but always love when one shares their love of aviation.

    I might not be Jon Travolta’s biggest fan, but I am a huge fan with where he lives and what he flies!

    David

  3. A New Pilot Shares Aviation with Millions – Jetwhine: Aviation … | Tailspin Says:
    February 3rd, 2010 at 7:18 pm

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