Sgt. Don Kelly’s weekend ride – Show Me Yours

Some guys enjoy hitting the throttle of a fast boat or climbing onto a motorcycle for that weekend rush. Sgt. Don Kelly of the Baton Rouge Police Department aims a little higher.

The 21-year veteran police officer enjoys darting in and out of the clouds piloting a light-sport aircraft.

He took his first flight lesson in February 2008, and two months later made his first solo flight—which, as is tradition, was a complete surprise.

April 22, 2008 was an awful day for Kelly. He’d learned the night before that Sgt. Michael Simon, a friend and colleague in the department with whom he graduated from the police academy in 1988, had died suddenly from a heart attack.

“My heart was heavy with the loss of my friend,” Kelly recalls. Making things hit even closer to home, doctors had performed open-heart surgery on Kelly a year earlier.

Kelly almost didn’t go for his scheduled flight lesson at Hammond Airport that day. When he arrived he asked his instructor, Jacky Stewart, to keep things nice and simple.

“I told him I just wanted a nice, easy flight that day,” Kelly says.

It’s tradition for flight instructors to catch their students off-guard for their first solo flight, and Kelly sure didn’t see his coming. Stewart joined him in the cockpit of the Evektor Sport Star, and they taxied to the runway. Then, with the engine running, Stewart popped open the door, climbed out and wished Kelly well on his first solo flight.

Of all days, Kelly thought. Worse, President Bush was visiting New Orleans and Baton Rouge that day, so there were tight airspace security restrictions to worry about.

But Kelly lined up the plane’s nose on the center of the runway, pushed in the throttle and took to the skies alone. It was short, but intense: three takeoffs and landings in rapid succession.

Turned out it was the best thing Stewart could have done, Kelly recalls. The flight went well, and he stayed laser-focused on flying the plane, which took his mind off the death of his friend for a few minutes.

Kelly continues his instruction, and he teamed up with some friends to purchase the aircraft. He expects to complete his check ride to become fully licensed this summer.