From
recently earning his Commercial Pilot License to becoming a professional
aviation photographer and being published in multiple aviation publications,
Menlo-Atherton senior Michael Mainiero has only just started to live his dream.
Although
Mainiero always had a passion for mechanical objects and hands on work, he
became interested in planes at a fairly young age. “When I was 13 years old my
mom and I visited [the Hiller Aviation Museum]. She found a brochure
advertising a youth flying program run by the Experimental Aircraft
Association. The program has volunteers who provide free flights for students
ages 8 to seventeen, and I was able (with some "gentle" prodding and
annoyance) to convince my mom to let me go up for a flight. I was hooked from
that point on.”
Mainiero
has spent all of his free time with planes since that moment, flying whenever
he can. Now as an eighteen year old, his most recent accomplishment has been
earning his Commercial Pilot License (CPL), which gives him the ability to fly
passengers and be paid to do it. Mainiero says the process of earning a pilot’s
license is doable, but “one must be fully committed both mentally and
financially to be ultimately successful.” The procedure to earn a pilot’s
license is not as easy as it may seem though. “The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) requires a minimum of 40 hours, which includes 20 hours
with an instructor, at least 10 solo, and many other prerequisites. A
60-question multiple choice test must be taken and your final examination, what
we call a checkride, is a 3-5 hour test which includes a 1-3 hour ground
oral-administered test followed by a one to two hour flight practical test,”
claims Mainiero. Flying a plane is also relatively expensive, which is why one
must be, as Mainiero says, committed financially. Aviation fuel can cost
between five to seven dollars a gallon, and with insurance, maintenance, and
other expenses, people pay 100 to 170 dollars just for the plane. For a flight
instructor prices are 60 to 90 dollars per hour, and there is also a cost for
pre and post-flight briefing and debriefing.
Despite
the high cost flying entails, Mainiero tries to fly whenever possible, flying
multiple days a week. However, unlike normal weekdays where people go about the
same routine every day, Mainiero claims that there is never a “typical” day of
flying. Most of his recent flying has been training oriented due to his work
towards earning his Commercial Pilots License, however, Mainiero claims that
depending on the intent of the flight he may be up in the air flying for “as
short as 45 minutes” or “as long as four or five hours.”
When
thinking about his future, Mainiero is certain he wants to pursue a career
relating to aviation. “There are not many careers that pay you to look out of a
window all day while having fun! There are pros and cons to a career in
aviation, but for me it is a heavy duty passion that provides a drive that
counters most cons,” says Mainiero. He also loves the adrenaline flying
provides him with. “Flying is being in control, while doing what seems to be
something out of control. Adrenaline for the typical high schooler might
include going to Six Flags or Great America and riding roller coasters all day.
Yes, there is some fun in that...you go upside down and what not, but one is
not in direct control of the ride.” Mainiero possesses the skills to have his
plane do maneuvers in the air that are perceived by the human eye as unnatural,
as he can “pull between two and three times the number of G-forces than a
roller coaster, and roll around at three times the rate.” This leads to “the
plane tumbl[ing] tail over nose” and having the potential to “slide backwards
at upwards of 40 miles per hour.” This aerobatic type of flying is something
Mainiero loves to perform. “Nowhere else can you do such a wild gyration of
maneuvers. It lasts [a while] too. A roller coaster might be a minute and a
half. This ride lasts 30 minutes—straight.”
Mainiero
states that at times he feels overwhelmed by his multiple activities, as he
wants to spend as much time flying as possible while trying to maintain good
grades in school. However, Mainiero is capable of fitting everything in due to
him only having “four classes, three of which are academic” at school. Because
of this short schedule, Mainiero is able to leave at the start of lunch every
day, which provides him with the opportunity to spend more time flying. “I do
miss a fair amount of school due to time conflicts,” states Mainiero, “but I
always make sure to be excused prior to each event.” After leaving school
Mainiero drives straight to the airport, where he has lunch at the Sky Kitchen
Cafe. He eats with a group of pilots who “alone may have 30,000 to 60,000 plus
hours” of flying. As an eighteen year old pilot himself who is open to any
information and experiences that will help improve his flying skills, Mainiero
sees the group of pilots as a “mentor group” and looks up to them.
Mainiero
says aviation provides him with a freedom that is hard to explain, as he gets
to make decisions as the pilot in command of an aircraft that is thousands of
feet in the air. He also has great respect for the other pilots at the airport
he flies at. “The community is extremely close-knit, much closer than any high
school friend group. There is a mutual respect around the group.”
Mainiero
also pursues a side job of aviation photography, where like his Commercial
Pilots License, he gets paid to ride in airplanes and take pictures. He is
committed to photography just as much as being a pilot, believing that “just
like painting, photographing aircraft is an art.” As a professional
photographer, Mainiero has been able to invest in quality equipment, which
improved the quality of his pictures and allowed him to partner with and be
published in aviation publications including InFlightUSA. However, what
Mainiero loves about aviation photography is “the fact that I have combined two
hobbies and passions into one, and am paid to do it!”
Mainiero
is planning to graduate high school with 600 flight hours and a Multi-Engine
Commercial License, an impressive feat for his young age. This fall, he will be
“living at home doing a Bachelor’s in Aviation Science degree online.” By doing
online school, Mainiero will be able to do school anywhere and anytime,
maintain a flexible schedule, work full time, and still do photography.
Mainiero’s passion is unlike any other; he is fully dedicated, willing to work
incessantly to pursue his passion. “For many, flying is associated with being
packaged up in an aluminum tube cattle car and being shot across the world with
bad food and drafty air currents. I have a different exposure. It’s a passion.
It’s a love of sorts.”
