Flying lessons are offered at Picayune’s Municipal Airport and are a cost effective way to become a certified pilot.

Not everyone has the money to invest in a plane, even a used single engine prop plane can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Continued maintenance is also a major expense.

Needless to say, when a plane breaks down there is no emergency lane to pull over to, so they need to be in operating order.

So, the Federal Aviation Administration understandably requires all planes to undergo regular maintenance and inspections.

But lessons, which are offered at the local airport, can provide a launching point to learn to fly, without the need for aircraft maintenance.

I’ve been lucky enough to ride in several aircraft outside of the typical commercial airliners.

Each time was a small adventure in itself. Not only do I have a fear of heights, I also get motion sickness when jostled around.

So when we landed safely I had a newfound respect for how much goes into operating an aircraft.

When driving you are, most of the time, confined by the roadways. Boating has the same restrictions when rivers are involved. Even along lakes and the ocean you are still at sea level, there is no going higher.

In a plane you are free to fly as high, or as low, with some restrictions on each, as you want.

While researching a story on pilot lessons, I was allowed to take a plane off the runway. I wasn’t allowed to land the plane, since that’s the last thing a pilot learns. It was a short lesson, but exciting all the same.

I’ve read it on Internet posts before, “Landings are nothing more than controlled crashes. While I don’t entirely agree, since a crash is a crash, it obviously takes a high degree of skill to land a plane.

So, if you are looking for a new hobby, consider learning to fly a plane.