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Student and Teacher Share Lifelong Love of Aviation

Gerald (Jerry) Griggs, left, alongside his longtime instructor and friend, Jim Schoerger. [Courtesy: Jerry Griggs]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The article highlights the profound and lasting positive impact of flight instructors, exemplified by the relationship between CFI Jim Schoerger and his student Gerald Griggs.
  • Schoerger's encouraging and confidence-building teaching style, including memorable advice before Griggs's first solo and regarding stall recoveries, significantly influenced Griggs's long and successful aviation career.
  • Their enduring bond led to shared traditions like re-enacting Griggs's first solo on its anniversaries, symbolizing the continuous "aviation chain" where instructors mentor future generations of pilots.
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One of the best parts of being a flight instructor is that it gives you the opportunity to have a positive impact on someone’s life. Just as we tend to remember our favorite teachers from school, most pilots can remember their favorite flight instructors. One such example is Gerald (Jerry) Griggs, from Wichita, Kansas, who vividly recalls his first solo in 1967 and Jim Schoerger, the CFI who made it possible.

The pair met at Pearland Airport, a now defunct general aviation field that was located just west of Ellington Air Force Base.

Meg Godlewski

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.

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