"A mile of highway will take you a mile. A mile of runway will take you anywhere."

For Senior Evan Illg, this quote contains words to live by. With a passion for aviation and the calm demeanor and courage to fly, Evan has begun the process of completing flight school to acquire his pilot license as a senior in high school.

Ever since he can remember, he has wanted to fly. As a little kid, Evan looked up to his father and uncle who are both pilots. Evan’s father, David Illg, is a private pilot and primarily flies a seaplane which seats just a few passengers and has the capability to land on water. Evan’s uncle, Walter Illg, is a retired cargo pilot who flew for DHL for several years.

Everyday after school, weather dependent, Evan drives over to Gulf Coast Aviation Flight school located at the Lakefront Airport for his flight school courses and practices. Evan has been in flight school since July 2018. If he can, he goes to practice every day and departs from the Lakefront Airport and flies a rental plane to keep challenging himself to be the best pilot he can be. Evan has excelled greatly since his start at flight school. He flew his third solo flight a few weeks ago which completed the ‘phase 5’ portion of his course. During flight school, there are 10 phases for the student to complete. The first solo flight occurs during phase 5 and there are three solo flights required in order to begin phase 6. ‘Phase 6’ requires for the student to begin training on cross-country flights.

Evan’s long-term goal is to become a cargo pilot like his uncle, and he has already been accepted and is planning to attend Louisiana Tech University in the fall and major in Aviation Management. The aviation program is a four-year collegiate curriculum. Keeping on track, Evan is projected to finish up his flight school before Mardi Gras and will be granted his pilot license.

“Flight school has taught me the importance of enforcing self-discipline, especially if I am alone in the air. I have since taken this idea and applied it at school which has helped me academically,” noted Evan.

Brother Martin is so proud of the tremendous accomplishments that Evan has already attained during flight school and his passion for flying! We look forward to seeing him excel as an aviation student at Louisiana Tech and as a future pilot.