Albany HS junior earns pilot’s license

Thu, 12/19/2024 - 13:20

By Sam Waller

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Cache Clark, an Albany High School junior, pilots a plane after earning his pilot’s license at just 17 years old, following over a year of training and over 75 hours of logged flight time.

While most high school juniors are still getting used to having a driver’s license, Cache Clark has gone one step further.

Clark, a junior at Albany High School, qualified for his pilot’s license on Thursday, Nov. 21 after more than a year of training. But he’s logged much more time in the air.

“I’ve been flying with my grandfather (Tom Clark) and my dad (Cary Clark) since I was 12 or 13,” he said. “My grandfather is an instructor and my dad has his regular license.”

That was more than enough motivation for Clark to pursue his own license.

“Flying around with them whenever they go fly is what got me interested,” he said. “Just seeing the view from up in the sky.”

Clark, who started attending ground school at Lytle Aviation in Abilene before he started his sophomore year, actually met most requirements several months before being granted a license. He made his first solo flight Dec. 22, 2023 and had more than 75 hours logged before being licensed.

“You have to have 40 hours to qualify, but can’t get your license until you’re 17,” he said. “I had that much before I turned 17, so I just kept on building hours.”

Clark’s longest solo trip covered a route from Abilene to Breckenridge to Olney and back. While he qualified in a Cessna 182, a four-seat single-engine plane, he’s already looking to expand his horizons.

“Right now, I’m working on getting my seaplane,” he said. “I’ll go to a course for about a week to get the rating for that. I’m not so sure about double-engine, I’m just working my way up.”

With career decisions still in the future, Clark isn’t committing himself to flying for a living, but being licensed opens up numerous possibilities.

“I’m not sure about an airline or the corporate side of things,” he said, “but I know I’d like to fly a jet. In the meantime, I hope to get my commercial license here in about 100 hours. I could start hauling people around.”

The big advantage, Clark said, is he won’t have to worry about how he gets around in the meantime.

“I could just fly wherever I need to,”he said.