Renee Kerckhoff’s husband was listening as his wife spoke of her dream to fly, and a couple of years ago he bought her a Discovery Flight for their anniversary. Her dream transformed from an abstract wish into a reality that would require steadfast pursuit. In May of 2004 she started taking flying lessons with a young man who, it turned out, was more interested in building hours than seeing Renee achieve her dream. This became a pattern of start and stop through a variety of instructors until she’d accumulated almost 200 hours and still didn’t have her Private pilot certificate.

She called American Flyers during the summer to see what we could do for her. She liked what she heard and decided to wait until she had the time to do everything at once. Ultimately, it took her less than a week to finish her Private. “It was a great experience,”she said.

Husband, Peter, and their two daughters support Renee’s flying ambitions wholeheartedly. Renee was able to take her mother for a flight on her 75th birthday. Even though Mom was a little nervous at the time, now she brags about her daughter the pilot!

Although done with her Private, she’s nowhere near done with her goals. She’s planning on getting glass cockpit training and then she wants to become Instrument rated. All of this will help Renee and Peter achieve an even bigger objective: they want to do a touch and go at every airport in Missouri. Then Kansas. Then who knows where!