Heartland teenager soars high, earning a private pilot’s license at 16 years old

MALDEN, Mo. (KFVS) - Just one out of 3,000 people in Missouri have a private pilot’s license and you won’t find too many who are teenagers.

But one high schooler from the Bootheel is aiming high.

At 16 years old, most teens are hitting the road for the first time alone, but for high school senior Ben Jones, his form of transportation is not like the others.

“My real journey with aviation really started when my dad took me to my first airshow,” Jones said.

That was five years ago at the Cape Girardeau Air Festival.

“To actually see airplanes fly in real life it was absolutely an amazing experience,” he said.

That experience would flourish to new heights.

“I would spend a lot of time in school just looking up airplanes, learning about the mechanics of airplanes and even during school I was going through my ground school,” he said.

And thanks to the of his parents.

“One day my dad, he just offered me to take flying lessons,” he said.

And all that studying during school would pay off later in the air.

“On the first day, as soon as we got up, he gave me the controls,” he said.

A moment Ben said he wasn’t expecting.

“It really just felt natural just to fly an airplane,” he said.

Ben would become just 1 out of 7,500 16-19-year-olds to get a private pilot’s license in the U.S. in 2023.

“It’s absolutely amazing to be able to say that because not a lot of kids get to say that at this age,” he said.

Ben is now 17 and a year into flying.

“I’m definitely breaking barriers for this community around here mainly because there is not a lot of infrastructure for aviation,” he said.

He hopes this encourages others to follow suit.

“It’s definitely something to inspire kids to get into aviation because mainly we don’t have a lot of people in aviation now,” Jones said.

To put it into perspective, less than one percent of people in the U.S. have a private pilot’s license.

“Right now act on your ion,” he said.

That’s something Ben will continue to do.

“Hopefully I can fly back and forth from Jefferson City pretty soon,” he said. “My dad has a job up in Jefferson City so he has to commit a lot of time driving back and forth.”

Now helping out the man who gave him a chance.

“An absolutely amazing experience to just fly with your dad,” Jones said.

Ben said the learning never stops as a pilot and hopes to become a commercial-rated pilot one day.

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