Steve Hansell is a flight instructor at Princeton Flying School. He loves it here because it gives him a chance to fly a lot, as well as a chance to teach. Those are Steve’s two main activities.
I started my flight training here at Princeton Airport so I’m a good advertisement for the quality of the training. I started in 2006. Got my private license then on up through CFII, ATP and so on. I’ve flown thousands of hours since then. All with Princeton Airport instructors. They’ve done a fabulous job. I like it here at Princeton Airport. It’s a wonderful facility physically and there are nice people here as well.
What got me into flying? I’ve always wanted to fly. Ever since I was a little kid. Actually I had to wait until I had time and money to fly, which is not unusual. My son went off to college so I had some time. I started fairly late flying, which is another reason, or another piece of evidence, you can start flying at any age. Age is not an impediment. If you can drive a car you can fly an airplane. Now flying an airplane’s a little bit harder. It takes more work. It takes more practice but you can do it. I love the flying. I love to get up there. When we take off the moment the plane leaves the ground it’s like a miracle. How can this be happening? I mean I’m in a metal machine with a simple piston engine out there but it actually works.We go up there. Orville and Wilbur Wright were correct. How crazy is that. We go up. I love looking out the window. That’s why I fly. I like looking out the window.
Then of course, I fly for food. We have a group of plane owners. We go to a different airport with a café right on the airport. Cape May, Lancaster, Orange County, New York, Waterbury, Connecticut, they all have good cafes. We’re always on the lookout for what we call the $200 breakfast, $5 for the breakfast and $195 to fly there and back. It’s a lot of fun. Gives us a reason, a mission to fly.
I love flying. I’m a part time flight instructor. My full time job, I’m a professor at Rutgers. I’ve been teaching all my life. Working with students all the way from freshman in college up to PhD candidates and so on. I enjoy teaching. Teaching is so much fun. Now I have the best combination here. I teach and I fly at the same time. I teach flying. ~ Steve Hansell, Princeton Flying School Instructor