Pilot Spotlight: Mike Wiehl
Check out Mike’s Socials @wiehlinthesky (FB and YouTube) @wiehlintheskye (IG)
Tell Us About Your Aviation Journey:
How did you get into aviation, and what inspired you to become a pilot?
I think I had a lot of inspirations when I was young that led me to want to be a pilot. No one in my family had anything to do with aviation, but we lived in Southern Maryland near Patuxent River Naval Air Station, so there were always planes flying around. Those are some of the earliest things I remember seeing jets in the area. I was always fascinated with airplanes and flying. When I was young, My parents told me I always wanted to look at the fans in the store, not the toy section. I guess I equated them to propellers or rotors, so I have always been fascinated with them. When I was 4, I insisted I needed a small fan for my room and threw a fit in the store because I wanted it. They even tried to convince me with a toy. Long story short, I got the fan!
I guess my parents knew I had the bug but didn't know how to facilitate it. My dad would occasionally drive me up to Regan National Airport, and we would sit and watch the planes take off and land. He found out about a Young Eagles event when I was 11 and took me to that, and I got to fly for the first time. I didn't know how to break into flying lessons, so when I was 15, I decided I wanted to go flying over Summer Break one day. So I drove out to the airport and asked about taking a lesson. I got set up on an intro flight in a 152 for $35 because flying was cheap in 1998! My flight was scheduled for 2:30 in the afternoon, and the only problem was I only had $12 because I was 15 and didn't have a job. So, I spent the entire day soliciting mowing lawns in my neighborhood to raise enough to fly that afternoon. I made about $40, so I was good to go! I took the intro flight, and of course, I was hooked. I got a job at Summerville Airport outside of Charleston, SC, where I got into the GA community. I was working on my PPL and flying with many guys who had planes almost every weekend.
Current Status
After High School, I started working for Northwest Airlines in Charleston, SC. Our outstation consisted entirely of Regional carriers flying 50-seat CRJ-200s. I got the job with a fresh PPL, thinking I would go into a career as an airline pilot, and working there would give me a step up. It didn't take long to learn that almost all the pilots HATED their jobs. In 2001, you were lucky to earn $13-18K as a First Officer. It was just a "pay your dues" culture. But it completely turned me off from flying professionally. I LOVE flying more than anything except for my wife and kids. I couldn't imagine taking something I loved so much and having it destroyed by a negative culture that turned it into a desk job. I knew I wanted to fly and be a pilot, but I wanted to do it on my terms and keep my passion in it. After two years working in the airlines, I pursued a career in Air Traffic Control. I tested for the ATSAT in 2008 when the FAA offered open hiring to the general public. They flew me to Hawaii for the test... I think that was more for the facilitators than my own, but I didn’t mind it!
I was reaching a point where my career in FBOs was starting to take off, and I was faced with the decision to go off into the unknown world of ATC, hoping to be placed at a duty station one day or have some control over my life and stay in the FBO world. I chose the latter. During most of this time, I lived in Las Vegas, which had horrible conditions for casual VFR flying, with constant high winds and high-density altitude; it was about six years of just not flying at all. In 2011 I took a new role that moved me to Nashville where I live today, and I was on the road almost 75% of the time. I started getting back into flying, getting my medical renewed, returning to the current, and completing a BFR. I was at a point where I was barely flying to maintain currency. As life started to turn, my wife and I got together and started our family, so many other priorities took place, and once again, I saw a significant gap in my flying experience. I started taking it a lot more seriously around 2017. I became a semi-successful filmmaker on YouTube, making life and travel videos utilizing GoPros for all our family adventures. I slowly started to turn that into an aviation-themed YouTube channel. That led me to many new adventures and opened up a new community of aviators and friends who were all as passionate about flying as I was. It ultimately led me to buy my Cessna 172 in 2018 and start down the road as a pilot and owner managing an airplane.
Owning an airplane opened a whole new world of opportunities and a new understanding of how expensive airplanes are! Today, I'm a private pilot with an instrument rating 3 weeks from my commercial checkride. I had a light switch go off around New Year’s when I decided I had enough flight time to get my Commercial Rating; I should do that. I honestly don't know what the road is ahead for me; I know that for the last six years of owning my airplane, I've been able to experience so much and genuinely enjoy aviation.
Career Highlights:
What have been your aviation career's standout moments or achievements so far?
PPL before graduating high school, Flying to Oshkosh, Landing at Kitty Hawk
Airplane Camping!
Fun Aspects of Flying: What do you enjoy most about flying? Share your favorite moments or experiences in the air.
For me, the most accomplished thing about flying is probably the accomplishment of completing a journey. Many of my flying is long cross country in my 172, and there is a very satisfying feeling of taking off into the wild blue yonder and navigating hundreds of miles to a tiny strip of asphalt where you want to go. The world looks so different from up there. I've been fortunate to go so many places and fly so many things, and I'm genuinely grateful, but it's also been a lot of hard work and a little luck. One of my favorite things to do with my airplane is go camping. We have airports around TN and KY that allow you to top tent camps on your airplane. KY even has a few state parks that are built for it. In 2022, my daughter and I flew our plane to Oshkosh and spent the week under the wing. That was a huge checkbox on the aviation wishlist! Just this past April, my kids and I loaded up in our airplane and flew to Indianapolis to watch the Solar Eclipse. If i had to talk about one of my favorite flying moments though, I had what I consider "my defining moment" back in late 2016 while I was on a flight to get night recurrent. I had taken off from BNA and was flying out to another airport to get landings in, it was getting dark and everyone else was on their way home from work on the highway. I saw thousands of cars traveling below me, just going about their day, trying to get home. They're probably listening to the radio or yelling at the guy before them to get over. Whatever they're doing, they're just in that autopilot mode of commuting from work. I started to think they didn't know what they were missing here. There is this fantastic glow from the sunset still hanging off to the west, and the shapes of the hills are carved out by the trail of lights on the roads. It was so smooth. I just sat for a minute and took it all in. I started to think that after the 2016 election, there was this whole sense of angst and frustration; people were so combative, and I realized it just didn't matter. That it's so amazing up here. Here I am, floating half a mile above all the business and fray; probably only a handful of people even know I'm up there. That detachment from all the world below me gave me so much perspective and clarity. Things aren't as bad as they seem. Any moment in nature utterly oblivious to the made-up struggles we create internally or externally can be very centering. The only thing left is to convince my wife to fly with me. She is terrified of flying and has dabbled with the idea but has never been able to commit to it. I'd love to take her on an airplane date or a weekend away.
Advice for Aspiring Pilots: What tips or advice would you give to someone just starting out in their flight training or aviation career?
My best advice is to keep going. After I earned my PPL, I stopped for a long time. I have had a license since 2000 but didn't get my instrument rating until 2021. Just know there will be setbacks. I have a three- and 6-year gap of no flying in my career. You're going to have times when you can't afford it. But keep going. Even if it takes you 20 years (like me), don't stop flying, and don't stop learning. I kept my proficiency up for years, flying on a flight simulator. I would file flight plans and talk to ATC on Vatsim (Pilot Edge is also a great resource). When I finally started flying again in 2016, instructors were impressed with my radio confidence because I had all that practice on the sim.
I'd also say don't let the environment dictate your passion. I shied away from a commercial pilot career very early in my journey because of the negativity of those around me. I may have taken a completely different career path if I had pushed through. My last piece of advice is to get involved in local aviation communities. EAA chapters, breakfast clubs, Facebook groups, and anything else to find excuses to fly. You'll find more opportunities to get exposed to different airplanes and different types of flying that may make the journey more specific to your niche. It's not always just learning how to be a robot in a DA-40. There are so many fun things to do exploiting your privileges as a pilot, so explore!
Favorite Aviation Tips and Tricks: Do you have a favorite aviation hack or tip that improves your flying experience?
Squawking 7700 gives you priority landing anywhere you want! That's a joke. Don't do that. When you do that, don't reference this post as evidence that you thought it was okay. My goal in life is to talk to the FAA as little as possible! I like using the availability of digital applications to debrief and review my flights. I use ForeFlight and will review my track logs to see how well I was holding to a heading or altitude. It was a huge help to see how I was managing tracking an ILS or RNAV during my instrument training. Sometimes, I'll even film flights to have a reference to go back to and see what I was doing on a specific flight.
Aviation Organizations: Are you a member of any aviation organizations (e.g., Women in Aviation, Women in Corporate Aviation, NGPA, OBAP, PAPA)? If so, how have they supported your journey?
I'm an EAA member, and I'm not a member of WAI but we do a lot of support for the Nashville 99s since my daughter has such an interest in a career in aerospace. She is a member, and it has been really good for her just starting out to have other female pilots share their stories and inspiration with her.
One last thing. You'll probably do some dumb stuff in an airplane that you won't realize was dumb until you gain more experience. You're going to learn something in your journey and reflect on that one time you flew a VFR XC without flight following, and that little tunnel of light you flew through under two massive thunderstorms when you were 18 and clueless was a BAD thing... Yeah. But don't make excuses; it is an organic learning experience that truly made you a better pilot. Number 1, you didn't unalive yourself. Number 2, you know A LOT more about ADM and when to say NO. It's probably the hardest thing to do when you psych yourself up about flying and go to the airport and find something in your minimum or standards that is a no-go. That's not the time to start adjusting them or being fluid. Take the loss, shut it down, and find a better day to fly.
@wiehlinthesky (FB and YouTube) Instagram - @wiehlintheskye
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@wiehlinthesky (FB and YouTube) Instagram - @wiehlintheskye 〰️
I’m on a mission to gather some incredible pilot stories to feature on the On Final blog. Whether you’re just beginning your flight training or you’ve been soaring through the skies for years, I want to hear from you!
Your experiences and stories can inspire others in the aviation community, and I’m excited to share them on the blog. If you’re up for it, please send me your story and some photos through the link below:
