At 17, Carmichaels Area High School seniors Anthony Post and Alex Toth are already licensed pilots—and helping introduce the next generation to aviation.
At an age when most high school students are worrying about homework, practice schedules and what to do on a Friday night, Anthony and Alex have something rather unusual to add to the list: flight planning, weather briefings and preflight inspections.
The licenses may be small enough to fit in a wallet, but earning them required considerably more than simply learning how to move an airplane through the sky.
Both completed the training, solo flights, cross-country requirements, written examination and practical test required of private pilots. Along the way, they studied weather, aerodynamics, aircraft systems, navigation, federal aviation regulations and emergency procedures.
In other words, they had to meet the same standards as any other aspiring private pilot. They just happened to do it before graduating from high school.
For both young men, aviation began as an interest but gradually became something much more serious. Learning to fly required them to find time outside an already busy schedule of classes, assignments, athletic practices and competition.
There were no shortcuts. There was studying when nobody was handing out a grade. There were corrections from instructors, weather cancellations and the occasional frustration that comes with trying to master something complicated.
Flying has a way of making preparation matter. A pilot cannot simply hope the weather cooperates. Routes must be planned. Aircraft systems must be understood. Conditions must be evaluated. Decisions have consequences.
Much of that education took place at Greene County Airport in Waynesburg, where Anthony and Alex developed their flying skills and became part of the local aviation community.
For young people interested in aviation, a local airport can make a world that might otherwise seem distant suddenly seem attainable. Aviation becomes something that can be explored up close. Young people can meet pilots, talk with instructors, watch aircraft come and go and begin asking the question: Could I do that?
As their training progressed, they learned that flying is about much more than handling the controls. It is about understanding the entire environment around the aircraft and making informed decisions before and during a flight.
That mindset has obvious parallels with athletics. Both boys are student-athletes, and both aviation and competition demand preparation, repetition and the willingness to accept coaching. For Anthony and Alex, the two worlds have become complementary.
The discipline required in athletics carries into the cockpit, while aviation has given them another environment in which preparation and composure matter. And they are already putting that experience to work beyond themselves.
The young men served as co-chairs of Aviation Day at Greene County Airport, helping organize an event intended to introduce families, children and the community to aviation. It is an especially fitting role for two teenagers who know what it is like to discover flying at a young age.
Aviation Day gives younger visitors the opportunity to see aircraft up close, meet pilots and learn about the many possibilities within aviation. For children who have looked up when an airplane passed overhead, it can turn a passing fascination into something more tangible.
For Anthony and Alex, there is something satisfying about being on the other side of that introduction. They were once the young people looking at aviation from the outside.
The children attending Aviation Day did not see someone decades removed from high school. They saw a student. Someone who still sits in a classroom, attends practices and competes with teammates.
Their accomplishment also illustrates the importance of access and mentorship. Having a local airport and experienced people willing to teach, encourage and answer questions can turn an ambitious idea into a realistic goal.
Where their aviation careers eventually take them remains to be seen. Perhaps there will be additional ratings. More flight hours. College programs. Professional aviation. Or perhaps flying will remain one part of much larger careers.
Those decisions belong to the future. For now, Anthony and Alex are just two students who happen to have accomplished something extraordinary before receiving their high school diplomas.
Perhaps most importantly, they are helping make sure that when another young person looks toward the sky and wonders what it would be like to fly, the answer no longer seems quite so far away.
