A New Mile High Club

Renting a Cessna: $100 per hour. Hiring a flight instructor: $45 per hour. Being able to legitimately rock those aviator sunglasses: priceless.

While flying—and style—can run up a hefty bill, one freshman is hoping to bring at least the former to Harvard’s campus.

Emanual C. Beica ’11 doesn’t have a driver’s license, but he did qualify for his private pilot’s license when he was 17 and has an advanced ground instructor certificate. Beica is organizing an aviation club to alleviate the monetary burden that can come along with his hobby. “I want to open up aviation to people who don’t necessarily have a lot of money,” Beica says.

Caitlin A. Rotman ’09, a prospective member of the club, discovered the rush of flying in high school but was unable to support the habit in college. “It’s too expensive, especially when you’re getting your license and need 40 hours of flight time,” she says. A Cessna can cost more than $100 each hour to rent.

Cash-strapped flight aficionados shouldn’t lose hope, though. After negotiating with Hanscom Field in nearby Bedford, Beica is hoping for at least a 5 percent discount on rentals. Additionally, the club would split the costs of renting a plane among members.

The ranks of the trained-but-unable (as well as the untrained, wannabe Tom Cruises a la “Top Gun”) are sizeable. Beica received 72 responses to a mass introductory e-mail he sent over House lists. “I’m looking forward to getting inside any kind of flying device,” says Benjamin C. Woodruff ’08, a student who is new to aviation and hopes to join the club once it takes off.

A tentative itinerary would include not only time in the air, but also other seminars and events. “I’m planning a behind- the-scenes trip to the Logan air traffic control tower,” Beica says.

Start rummaging for those dusty Ray Bans and Kenny Loggins cassette tapes.