Father earns instrument rating while son earns pilot license at March Aero Club

  • Published
  • By Vanessa Gempis
  • 452nd AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  While most 17 year-olds are out enjoying their driver's licenses, Michael Benner, a senior at Colton High School in Lake Mathews, is handling the keys to a different kind of vehicle: a plane. 

Michael has been licensed to fly for two months, after completing pilot training at March ARB on June 6. On the same day, his father, Ken, reached a pilot milestone of his own, earning his instrument rating, which allows him to fly when there's inclement weather or when vision is impaired outside. 

For Ken Benner, who served in the Navy in the 1980s, flying is a hobby. He earned his pilot's license about nine years ago but as time went on, he developed other interests, but he never forgot his love of flying. 

Even though Michael just earned his license, he's not new to flying, either. He flew a plane for the first time when he was six, with his dad. 

"We had to stack a bunch of pillows on the seat so [he] could see," Ken recalled with a chuckle. 

Flying with his dad as he grew up helped Michael decide that he was interested in attending the Naval Academy and becoming a pilot. He thought that getting his pilot's license ahead of time would give him a boost once he joins the Navy. 

Michael's membership in the Civil Air Patrol enabled him to earn his pilot's license at the March Aero Club. Michael recommends this as a way for others to earn their licenses "if they're the type of person who would enjoy the military-type lifestyle one day a week." 

"I got mine in a year," Michael Benner said, "But it could be done a lot faster if they're really motivated." 

"And if you have around $5,000-6,000 sitting around doing nothing!" his father added. 

Michael joined the Civil Air Patrol so that he could get into the Aero Club, but he stayed in because he enjoys the program, and he and his dad remain active members of the club.
As Michael began to work on his pilot's license, his dad got the itch to get back in the cockpit. 

"I guess I got jealous," Ken said. "I wanted to go play again, too." 

Not only did Ken start to fly again, but he decided to upgrade his pilot's license, too. 

The work was vastly different: Michael needed 40 hours of flying, minimum, including ten solo hours. He worked from March ARB with an instructor, and after a year of flying as a student, he took his check flight and received his pilot's license. 

Ken's work was "eight months of flying without looking out the window." 

"It was a lot of headwork, a lot more geometry, and paying attention to numbers because you have to keep the plane straight and level and in the direction you're supposed to go, just by looking at your instruments," he said. "You have to rely on radio and navigation aids to know where you're going and how to get there." 

The father and son share a flight every couple of weeks, renting a plane from the Aero Club for most of the day so they can take their time going where they want. In fact, "the freedom to go anywhere" is one of Michael's favorite parts about flying. 

And they do go anywhere they want. 

"We flew to Bakersfield a week ago to get a burger," Michael said with a grin. 

"It's a running joke for pilots to get a $100 burger," Ken added, alluding to the cost of flying there and back. He doesn't seem to mind the cost too much because the experience is worth it. 

About a month ago, the father and son flew for the first time with Michael as the pilot in command. 

While his father praised him for doing a good job on the flight, Michael confessed, "He still nagged me a lot...still told me everything I was doing wrong."