Those of us who came to love flying at an early age all have our stories of all that we did (or were willing to do) to finance the expense of learning to fly at a time when our peer group was more interested in chasing girls than chasing cumulus. Yours truly pumped gas, delivered papers, and weeded Eddie Gorski's garden at Lincoln Park airport to earn money for, way too few, much-treasured, half hour lessons in a tired old Cessna 150 that was my ticket to an adventure that has never ended.

It went slowly and the work was hard... but it was worth every second. And every kid now learning to fly, and working hard to pursue it, certainly has my attention and respect... some more than others.

One of the more intriguing stories that came to my attention this week was the tale of young Theo Prins, a 14 year old fly-in attendee who is working the NWEAA Fly-In with an ulterior motive. Theo is running about, making contact with a number of aircraft owners, sketch pad in hand, offering to do pencil sketches of their flying machine for the ultra-reasonable price of $20 a pop.

Why? (you're gonna love this)

This is how young Theo is raising the money to finance flying lessons, so that he can not only take his place among aviators all over the world, but advance toward his dream of becoming an airline pilot when he grows up. It's a brilliant ploy, and many a pilot has already parted with a few bucks and consented to have their aircraft immortalized by this highly motivated fella. Theo can work off a photo and has done a number of outstanding drawings that way, though he admits that it's more  fun to be right there to sketch the bird he's working on--especially at his home field of Jefferson County Airport.

Theo is a quiet and polite young man, not too easily disposed to talking about what he's up to, but his talents speak volumes. A look through his sketch pad showed off some very good work and a true eye for capturing the spirit of a particular aircraft. Theo works quickly... often taking less than 20 minutes to sketch a bird out... and he's also dabbling in oil painting (done on spec only) as well, if you want something even classier to remember your aircraft by.

Theo does work by mail

If you want a drawing done, send him your favorite photo, a $20 bill and stand back for a few days until the mailman does his thing. If you have a scanned picture, feel free to send it by e-mail, as well.

At a time when too many youngsters seem to be more interested in MTV than VFR, Theo's industrious pursuit is a deserving one... so a shameless plug is hereby made for Theo's Learn To Fly fund. His address/e-mail is listed below.

Give the kid a chance to sketch your bird, and help a fellow flier get their start.

FMI: keesmarcia@cablespeed.com, Theo Prins, 1006 Taft St., Port Townsend, WA, 98368. Phone/fax: 360-344-3289.