I soloed an airplane on the first day legally possible, my 16th birthday. So let’s step back to a bright summer day in Weatherford OK in 1994.

CFI Jack Sauer, Airplane C-152 N64849, and Student  Pilot Charles O’Neill in 1994

The first stop is not the airport. No, the first step to flying an airplane is sitting in a doctor’s office for a physical exam. When the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the airplane, the airplane is said to be airworthy. With the medical certificate in hand, I’m off to the airport.

The airplane is a Cessna 152 with registration N64849. Looking at the FAA registration, she is a 1981 model and lives in LA nowadays. My flight instructor was Jack Sauer. I have no idea where he is now. He was initially quite skeptical of training a kid until a pre-preflight walk-around where I started naming aircraft parts and functions. Lesson learned: Know your stuff and doors open.


Afterwords, the traditional shirt-tail-cutting was performed.

Thanks to my parents for finding these long-lost photos.