{"id":28138,"date":"2025-10-31T15:52:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T15:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/28138\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T15:52:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T15:52:07","slug":"discovery-flight-offers-flying-lessons-over-orlando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/28138\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovery Flight offers flying lessons over Orlando"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Thousands in the United States have earned their private pilot\u2019s license, often after four to eight months of training \u2014 but you don\u2019t need any of that to experience the thrill of flying a plane.<\/p>\n<p>What You Need To Know<\/p>\n<p>Discovery Flights let people of any age, even without a license, take control of a small aircraft with an instructor<\/p>\n<p>A 12-year-old named Simon recently flew over Lake Apopka and downtown Orlando during his hands-on aviation experience<\/p>\n<p>The flight also includes a full pilot pre-check, teaching participants about safety and aircraft controls<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoflightschool.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Orlando Flight School<\/a> offers these one-hour flights near the Orlando Executive Airport as part of an introductory flying program<\/p>\n<p>At <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoflightschool.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Orlando Flight School<\/a>, anyone can sign up for a discovery flight, which is a one-hour experience that lets you take the controls of a real aircraft, no license required.<\/p>\n<p>Flight instructor Parker Mayhorn recently helped 12-year-old Simon Rodriguez Gasca do just that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m about to let a 12-year-old fly a plane,\u201d Mayhorn said just before takeoff.<\/p>\n<p>Simon\u2019s discovery flight began like any other \u2014 with safety checks and instructions through a headset.<\/p>\n<p>The two took off from Orlando Executive Airport, and shortly after, Simon was at the controls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome get a little bit nervous, but once you\u2019re in the air for a good five minutes, you get used to it. And you know not many people can say they flew in a plane,\u201d Mayhorn said.<\/p>\n<p>Simon piloted the plane over Lake Apopka and downtown Orlando, enjoying the view while learning to steer, turn and stay on course.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFlying the plane, there are some bumps that give you little goosebumps, but it\u2019s actually very easy fun,\u201d Simon said.<\/p>\n<p>Before ever getting off the ground, participants learn everything a licensed pilot does before takeoff.<\/p>\n<p>That includes checking fuel levels, control surfaces and safety protocols.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTake the flaps and put it all the way down. You remember how to check the quantity? Good. So right now, we\u2019re taking a sample of the fuel to make sure we have the correct type of fuel and that there\u2019s no contaminants,\u201d Mayhorn said while instructing Simon during the pre-check.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to check everything to keep the plane and ourselves safe,\u201d said Gasca.<\/p>\n<p>While flying may seem intimidating, Mayhorn says the controls of a small plane are actually simple to understand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor example, over here you have your airspeed, which shows you how fast you\u2019re going. Your altimeter, which shows you how high you are,\u201d Mayhorn said while pointing to the control panel inside the plane.<\/p>\n<p>For Gasca, the experience was unforgettable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI guess everybody should do it because it feels amazing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Orlando Flight School is next to the Orlando Executive Airport.<\/p>\n<p>For more information about discovery flights, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orlandoflightschool.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Orlando Flight School<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Thousands in the United States have earned their private pilot\u2019s license, often after four to eight&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[7150,2031,274,558,28,7151,115,1335,139,141,140,11881,135,278,14104,20871,835],"class_list":["post-28138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-florida-on-a-tankful","tag-app-local-business","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-florida-on-a-tankful","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-randy-rauch","tag-tampa","tag-top-stories","tag-topic-latest-local-business-stories","tag-trip-on-a-tankful","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}