It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s learn-to-fly month!

If you could have any superpower, what would it be? I will always hope for the ability to fly. I’d love to take a leap and be able to fly with ease in the same way iconic comic book characters do, but I can only fly like that in my dreams.

May is Learn to Fly month, and as a self-proclaimed baby pilot and lifelong aviation enthusiast, I’m here to route us through a few moments in physics history to show you why I love to have my head in the clouds. The wind is working in our favor, and it should be a smooth scroll to our destination.

Pre-Flight Inspection & Take Off

Many pilots and student pilots can recall the moment they got bitten by the aviation bug. The rest of us could be told that our first word was “airplane” and we’d probably believe it.

Teenagers can build model airplanes and learn to fly a fixed-wing aircraft . There is no minimum age requirement when it comes to learning how to fly, but you must be at least 14 to do your first glider solo or 16 to do your first private pilot solo. No matter your age, you will always complete a preflight inspection to ensure the airworthiness of your aircraft. From checking fuel levels to checking the weather along your flight path, each preflight step will prepare you to have a safe flight.

Both Ronald Mickens and William Meggers encapsulate the essence of being a teenager with natural excitement for planes.

Keep Up with the Horizon

With over 1,000 of his own flight hours logged, we are now at cruising altitude with Nobel Laureate Luis Alvarez.

Safety is always the most important thing to keep in mind throughout the entire flight, even when cruising through the sky. Keeping up with the horizon, aviator speak for maintaining a relationship with the nose of your aircraft meeting the horizon line in front of you at your cruising altitude, will help you stay right where you need to be as you move along your flight path. Once your aircraft nose is in the right place, your instructor can take control, and you take a few pictures and enjoy the sights

Although he is perhaps more known for his work in experimental physics, Alvarez flew for more than 50 years and pioneered developments in radar and ground-controlled approach, aka GCA (coinvented with Lawrence H. Johnston). GCA is a service used by air traffic controllers to guide pilots to land safely using primary radar images. Without him, we wouldn’t be flying the way we do today.

Echo Sierra Victor Alfa 526, You Are Cleared to Land

Welcome back to the ground. I hope it wasn’t too bumpy up there.

Some people say that the happiest days of their lives include their wedding day or the birth of their child. For student pilots, I’d argue that one of the happiest days of their lives is when their certified flight instructor tells them that they’ve never had a student have such a smooth first landing. For me, I’ll never forget when my first instructor told me that he’s never had a student look as comfortable and content as I did during my first lesson. Maybe he was exaggerating or maybe he was being honest. Either way, I knew I was right where I was supposed to be.

Outside of being a Centennial Professor Emeritus of Physics at Swarthmore College and the former President of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the United States, Oleska-Myron Bilaniuk was an FAA glider and single-engine pilot and flight instructor. I can’t help but wonder if he had any 14- and 16-year-old students who impressed him with their landings.

“Hey, did I mention I’m a pilot?”

One thing about anyone who has ever flown a plane, whether they are someone who just took their first 30-minute discovery flight or are a 65-year-old airline captain about to taxi their way through their water salute , they’re going to find a way to tell you that they fly, even if it seems random in the moment.

Guilty as charged, I am included in this. I want more people to take a leap of faith and schedule their first flight lesson so they can fall in love with the skies the same way I did. I’d broadcast this unofficial pilot recruitment message to the world if I had the chance — my friends and family hear me say “you should become a pilot” to people, including all of them, at least once a month.

Julian Schwinger, who earned a share of the Nobel Prize in physics in 1965 for his work in quantum electrodynamics, can be seen here talking about relativity on British television. I’ve always felt that time goes by faster when I’m flying because I’m having so much fun, but Schwinger does a much better job than I do of explaining why that feeling isn’t entirely wrong.

Though May is Learn to Fly Month, any month can be that month for you, weather permitting. To all those curious about aviation, I’d happily wait second in line on the runway just to watch you take off for the first time.

To those who would want the superpower of teleportation, I promise this is the next best thing.