MARTINSBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — Air Conrad is expanding their operations with flight training at the Altoona-Blair County Airport with a new full-time certified flight instructor.
They brought training back to the airport after years without it. The owner of the airline, Adam Conrad said that it’s just what they need to elevate operations.
“You know an area like Altoona is a little bit remote. A lot of folks think that they need to go to a school far away in order to learn how to learn how to fly. The reality is we have a perfect facility right here and we have the capacity to teach people how to fly. So there’s really no reason to go anywhere else,” Conrad, who’s also a flight instructor said.
The new full-time instructor is Nick Marais. He started flying when he was 19 years old. His dad, uncle, and brother are all pilots, and once he tried it, he never looked back.
We asked Nick if it was easy to fly.
“It depends on who you ask. Some people pick up real fast on it, other people take a lot of time. So it just really depends on the person. There’s not really an easy or hard definition for it,” Nick said.
Learn to fly is the short but simple message that Air Conrad has for you.
Sydney Metzler is taking lessons and she’s only in high school. At just 16 years old, Sydney has flown a plane on her own before she got her driver’s license.
“It’s turned into one of my favorite hobbies and I think it’s nice to start young and get a head start on it. And especially for my future career, it definitely helps get a jump start on that,” Metzler said.
Sydney plans on becoming a commercial pilot, and after her senior year, she’ll continue to fly towards that goal.
“We think we can teach anyone to fly, so challenge us,” Conrad said.
In addition to Conrad and Marais, the flight school also has two other experienced instructors and three aircrafts on their flight line.
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They offer aircraft rentals and check-out flights for licensed pilots to stay FAA compliant. If you’re not sure if flying is right for you, the airline encourages you to book a Discovery Flight to get an idea of what it`s like to pilot a plane. You can also contact them at (814)-317-9656.