| Summary: | page 16 Ambition is in the air English professor Scott Olsen plans to set a world flying record Having first grasped an airplane's steering wheel when he was only a first-grader, Scott Olsen, an English professor at Con-coidia, hopes to set a new world flying record with his flight instructor as soon as he finishes taking flight lessons this winter. BY LUKE BALDWIN Scott Olsen is more than an English professor at Concordia College—he is a pilot in training with plans to set a new world flying record. The possibility of a world record came as a fluke, but Olsen did not stop it there. The plans have already been made: Olsen and his flight instructor, Mark Malm-berg, will attempt to seal their names on a world record as soon as flight training comes to a close. "It's going to be a tasty little record—a hard one to break," Olsen said. Olsen's interest in flying started as a facination when he was a child. He liked anything from submarines to rocket ships, but because Olsen's father was a pilot, he had flying opportunities that most children never get to experience. High above the ground, perched on his father's lap in their V-Tailed Bonanza, Ol-sen held the controls and experienced his first flight when he was in first grade. Olsen is currently working on his pilot's license. Although he does not know if he will ever own a plane, flying is something he will continue to do. While searching on the web, Olsen came across an article featuring a Cessna 152, the same small two-seat airplane he is training in. Reading the article, Olsen realized the owner of the plane held a world record. A very attainable record. Olsen discovered there is a category of flight records under the title "Fast-est Speed Over a Recognized Course." The man in the article set his record by creating his own course, and that is what Olsen and his flight instructor are cur-rently doing. Olsen and Malmberg developed a course that nobody else has flown. Though Olsen will not reveal the exact route, he does mention it will be flown through the lower 48 states. The record will not be hard to set, but it will be dif-ficult to break, he said. If the weather stays favorable for les-sons, he expects to finish his license in January or February. After getting the license, he and Malmberg will fly together in a Cessna-172 to create a new world record. Malmberg met Olsen on the air field in August and was impressed by his motiva-tion and enthusiasm. "He was like a kid in a candy store out here," Malmberg said. He took Olsen up for his first flight—called a Discovery Flight—where Malmberg let him take the controls to gain the full experience. "Of course he was hooked," Malmberg said. In September, Olsen introduced the idea of setting a world record to Malm-berg. Malmberg was doubtful a record could be set with such a small plane, but then again, that was the point. As Olsen explained the process of setting a record, the idea became a possibility. They were surprised to learn that a Cessna-172 would have the capability of traveling at a speed of around 140 mph, and if they were fortunate enough to catch a tail wind, the speed would be even greater, Olsen said. This means that not only would Malmberg and Olsen be able to set a record, but they also will set a fairly challenging record for future flyers to beat. Malmberg said that the record Olsen found on the Internet was set with a smaller plane than the Cessna-172, and at a speed of about 80 mph. In the end, Malmberg agreed to the goal and was impressed by his student's ambition. "It makes you realize there are a lot of things you don't do in life," he said. Taking flight lessons is not only allow-ing Olsen to fulfill his dream of setting the record, they are also helping him gain experience for his new book, Hard Air. The book will feature stories of those whose jobs involve stressful and danger-ous flying, such as Hurricane Hunters and firefighter pilots. Olsen wanted to become a pilot in order to better under-stand what these daring men and women experience. Hard Air will not be Olsen's first book. He has already written seven and edited five, making Hard Air the thirteenth book under his belt. Besides documenting others' stories, Olsen has built up quite an anthology of stories within his own. This soon-to-be pilot's life has been filled with numerous adventures. He's taken students SCUBA diving on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, and has hiked in the mountains of New Zealand. His own writing about road trips has taken him everywhere from Key West to Death Valley to the Yukon Terri-tory and the Arctic Ocean. For Hard Air, he has flown with the Hurricane Hunters into Hurricane Ivan. The possible adventures still to come in-clude high-altitude flights with NASA and perhaps even a trip to the South Pole. Setting world records is not one of Olsen's common goals, instead, the fact that the activity is enticing and excit-ing motivates him to set and accomplish these feats. "If it wasn't fun I wouldn't do it," he said. As for teaching English, to Olsen it is an entirely different kind of exciting adventure. Olsen is a teacher because he loves school, and when he was a student, he never wanted to leave. For him, it has always been a deep source of joy. "The older you get, you just shift from one side of the classroom to the other," Olsen said. When he's not teaching in the English department, Olsen edits Concordia's national literary journal, Ascent, and is helping to start the new partnership be-tween the college and the National Book Award. Flying has been a dream for Olsen since he was a kid, and with many other accomplishments along the way, he has been patient to achieve his lifelong dream. Now, at 46 years old, he is deter-mined to see it through. "Now is the time in my life where that's appropriate, and possible," he said His advice for other dream seekers? Be patient, and be determined.
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