Ed Graham, 19, is a college student, swim coach and lifeguard. The proceeds from the last two activities have gone into a private certificate and instrument rating and are now propelling Ed toward a commercial certificate and CFI. He flies out of Long Beach and John Wayne in Southern California. He has 250 flying hours, about half of that dual, and flew 130 hours in the past 12 months.
Ed started flying when he was 16, soloed and got his private at 17 and earned his instrument rating at 18.
His aspirations: "I'm not set on anything, really, other than flying as much as I can and hopefully making a career out of it. Ten years from now I could be doing anything from flying airliners, bush planes, or maybe I'll still be instructing." His experience teaching kids to swim prompted this comment: "I think flight instructing is going to be fantastic."
Ed flies rental airplanes and got his instrument rating in a Cessna 152. He also flies a Piper Arrow and takes some trips with friends and family in 172s. He's also flown a Diamond and a Warrior.
He does fly IFR and night IFR but the latter only if conditions are benign or his instructor is along. Ed has flown seven hours of actual, four of those without an instructor on board. He has also logged 45 hours of simulated instrument time in the past year.
There have been two actual approaches in the past year. Both were related to tower en route control flights with a 2,000 to 3,000 foot thick marine layer with bases around 500 feet and visibility of about a mile and a quarter. Both were ILS approaches.
Ed has already had two "events" in his flying. One was on his long solo cross-country as a student pilot. The engine started losing power and running rough as he was climbing through 4,000 feet about seven miles northeast of John Wayne. He ran through the proper procedures to no avail as the engine became even rougher. Power was reduced to lessen the vibration. He told Socal (Southern California) Approach that he'd like to return to the airport due to engine problems, and they told him to proceed to a VFR checkpoint on the other side of the airport. Not wanting to do that, Ed declared an emergency and was cleared to land on any runway. He took the big one, 19R, and landed without further incident. He later learned that the power loss and roughness were caused by a cracked cylinder.
