“He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all”
― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull
MUSCLE SHOALS – “I get to see the world from above,” explained Sophie Repolt Rogers, “and the challenge is so very compelling.” Rogers holds her Commercial Pilots License and flies just about every airplane type you can imagine. To date, her favorite bird is a Sabreliner 65, a 436 knot bird. Nice gig, if you can get it.
But Rogers is qualified in lots of other aircraft also, from Beechcraft Barons to J-3 Cubs, Pipers, to the venerable Cessna line of airplanes like the 150, the 172 Skyhawk, and the 182 Skylane, among others. She’s a Certified Flight Instructor and has helped many would-be pilots earn their wings.
Taylorcraft
Although Rogers hasn’t been in aviation all of her life, she’s achieved this in just over 15 years of full-immersion flying. “I really wasn’t interested in flying as a child,” she told the Quad-Cities Daily, “because I was never introduced or exposed to it. I was managing a pest control company. The notion of being a pilot never entered my mind.” Things changed in her lifewhile sitting on her deck having lunch with her parents in Delaware in 1999 and a small airplane flew overhead. Her father said how cool it would be to be flying that airplane and that very week she signed up for flight lessons. “That was the best, most exciting decision I made in my life!” The rest, as they say, is history. A quick study, Sophie earned her wings and started building her catalog of certifications. She was a serious pilot. So serious, that she wanted to share her new-found avocation with others. She became a Certified Flight Instructor after moving to Alabama in 2001.
People have many reasons for learning to fly. Sometimes it’s just as a hobby or perhaps shortening the time it takes to travel. Some people fly because their business requires them to get to lots of places efficiently that may be out of reach of commercial airports, so they hop into their plane and make a difficult trip quick and easy. some pilots do it as their career. But one thing’s in common among all these pilots. It’s their love of the sky and the freedom they feel to be able to dance among the clouds. That’s why we do it.
Sophie Repolt Rogers is based at Northwest Alabama Regional Airport, where she conducts her flight instruction. Anyone who would like to know more about learning to fly should contact her through the Airport at (256) 383-2270. The Airport has aircraft available to rent to qualified pilots.
