Local Teen Spends 16th Birthday Piloting Solo Flight

Over the summer, instead of playing video games mimicking flight, Brycen Holland sat behind the controls of a Cessna 150 and learned to fly. That is after he was driven to the airport because he was too young to drive. 

On his sixteenth birthday, the Limeport teen made his first solo flights from Queen City Airport in Allentown. The teen now is authorized to fly an airplane alone, even though he cannot legally operate a car without supervision. 
While Hurricane Isaac was churning down south in the gulf, the conditions could not have been more perfect in the Lehigh Valley.

“It was a beautiful morning today. We couldn’t have asked for any better weather,” noted Matt Ryan, Queen City’s chief flight instructor. “Nonetheless, Brycen did an awesome job, and I think he would have done so even if it had been a bumpy day,” Ryan added. 

Holland’s motivation came when his Uncle Mike asked him if he were going keep up the family tradition and solo on his sixteenth birthday. That was all it took to set Brycen on the course of other family members. His father, Greg Holland, made his first solo flight on his sixteenth birthday and got his driver's license later the same day. The younger Holland will have his pilot certificate for about six months before he is eligible for a Pennsylvania driver's license. His great-grandfather was a pilot, his grandfather was a Navy pilot, his father is a captain for a major airline, and aunts, uncles, and cousins are in aviation.

Flying is simply part of the Holland's lives. So, it did not come as too much of a surprise when Mike Holland who lives in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, flew to Pennsylvania to see his nephew solo, explaining, “Since I am part of this project, I think it is appropriate that I am present for the adventure.”