Red Tail Cadet Student Pilot Achieves First Solo

By Carmelo Turdo

The first class of the Red Tail Cadet Program recently achieved another milestone in their flight training at Elite Aviation: Adam Puder became the first Cadet to log a solo flight on July 28. Adam Puder's solo flight comes just a week after the mass cross-country flight from St. Louis to Sikeston, MO. After flying several patterns, CFI Corey Redington walked away from the aircraft so that Adam Puder could fly his next three takeoffs and landings by himself. His Red Tail Cadet classmates and the staff at Elite Aviation were waiting to congratulate him after he parked the aircraft.

"I want to keep going," Puder told those gathered around him after he helped tie down the aircraft. Keeping the aircraft "on the numbers" for altitude and airspeed throughout the pattern set him up for three slick landings. When his instructor asked about his first thoughts after he lifted off, Puder replied, "Didn't have Corey!" 

Here we feature the sequence of the Red Tail Cadets team pre-flight of the aircraft, Adam Puder's morning instructional flights, his solo flight, the traditional shirt-cutting ceremony and an informal gathering in the Elite Aviation lobby.

Reaching the solo flight milestone in the program was a possibility but not an official objective of the Red Tail Cadet Program. Along with flight training, the Cadets experience many enrichment opportunities such as touring the Boeing St. Louis military aircraft production factory, meeting a former U.S. Navy Blue Angels commander and interacting with mentors in various aviation career fields. Although the theme of aviation permeates throughout the Red Tail Cadet Program, the first class of Cadets will carry with them positive life lessons that will serve them well in the future.