Sky is the limit for Plymouth multi-sport student-athlete Johnson
Plymouth High School two-sport standout Emma Johnson has earned her pilot’s license with aspirations to become a commercial pilot someday.
A couple of years ago, current Plymouth High School senior Emma Johnson was struggling to decide on a profession to pursue.
“I knew for sure I didn’t want a 9-to-5 desk job,” Johnson revealed, smiling.
It’s safe to say the career she has decided on couldn’t be further (literally) from a desk job.
After multiple times sitting in the passenger’s seat of a private plane flown by her stepdad, Joel Stanesa, and completing a free Discover Flight with Van Buren Township-based Crosswinds Aviation, Johnson’s future ambitions became less cloudy, so to speak.
(Check out a video of Emma Johnson’s first solo landing by clicking here.)
Infatuated with flight
“I loved the feeling of flying in the smaller planes,” she said. “Obviously, you’re closer to the ground than when you’re on a commercial flight, so you can see more, but you’re also close to the clouds.”
Later this summer, Johnson will be a freshman at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
In addition to studying to one day fulfill her dream of becoming a commercial pilot, Johnson — a two-time All-Conference soccer player for the Wildcats — will play soccer at the university, which is widely regarded as the most-respected institution for aviation and aerospace education worldwide.
After several hours of book work and 20 hours of flying with an instructor at Crosswinds, Johnson earned an opportunity to fly solo for the first time in early February.
Johnson is among the less than 0.1% of high school students nationwide who have flown solo, according to multiple sources.
Skill overcomes nerves
“I was so nervous before my first solo,” Johnson admitted. “But once I took off, I was totally fine; I realized I knew what I was doing.
“Coming in for my first solo landing was a little nerve-wracking because there is so much going on — you’re focusing on the instruments, talking to the tower, watching the runway approach — but it went really well.”
Johnson, who earned a weighted 4.3 grade-point average her junior year at Plymouth, has proven to be an excellent juggler of responsibilities since taking the leap to become a student pilot.
“There is a lot more book work that comes with becoming a pilot than I expected,” she said. “You’re tested a lot — both orally and with written tests. My friends thought it was kind of crazy that I would be flying at 6 a.m. before I went to school, but that’s what it takes.”
Playing sports helped
Johnson said being a two-sport high school athlete (she was also a significant contributor to Plymouth’s girls basketball program) has helped in her pursuit of a pilot’s license.
“I think the hand-eye-foot coordination and work ethic you need to play high school sports came into play,” she said. “Also, you realize the more you put into something, the more you’re going to get out of it.”
One way Johnson plans to build up solo flight hours — aspiring pilots need at least 1,500 hours of solo flying without a college degree to earn a license; 1,000 hours with a degree — is to fly banner-toting planes along Florida’s east coast beaches.
She is also pursuing a minor degree in air-traffic controlling as a fall-back plan to flying commercial jets.
“My ultimate goal is to be a pilot for Delta Airlines someday,” she said. “I love to travel, so I think that would be a fun and exciting career.”
Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.
