Flight Training - December 2019 - 19

PEOPLE

BY JULIE SUMMERS WALKER

THE POWER OF A THANK-YOU NOTE

MIKE COLLINS

A LITTLE BOY'S DREAM COMES TRUE-NEARLY 20 YEARS LATER
Brandon Lagos was 7 years old
when a CFI visited his elementary
school. The young second grader
did as his teacher instructed and
wrote the CFI a thank-you note,
adding his own personal touch by
cutting out an airplane and taping it
to his letter: "Thank you for sharing
your job with us. I might be a pilot
on[e] day. Look at this. Sincerely,
Brandon Lagos."
The CFI was Sharif Hidayat,
then a brand-new instructor at
the former Montgomery Aviation
in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He
cherished the letter and kept it with
his personal belongings for several
years. Sorting through his things
after a move he found the note and

realized that Brandon was the son
of a friend he'd met in Maryland. "Is
your son named Brandon?" Hidayat
asked Ringo Lagos. When he found
it was his friend's stepson, he shared
Brandon's letter with Ringo. Brandon then placed the letter with his
personal things and forgot about it.
Flash-forward 19 years later and
Hidayat is a designated pilot examiner. On assignment at Maryland's
Freeway Aviation, he glanced at
the flight school's wall of fame and
spied a recent first solo for Brandon
Lagos. That's got to be the same kid,
he thought.
"So, I said to the CFI, you're not
going to believe this, please give me
his phone number," Hidayat said.

The young Lagos is now a ramp
agent for Southwest Airlines and
works the overnight shift. Picking up
the phone at 10:30 in the morning,
groggy with sleep, he soon realized
this was that same CFI who'd spoken
at his school all those years ago-and
he wanted to be his DPE for his
private pilot checkride. On August
10, Hidayat checked out that little
boy who wanted to be a pilot from all
those years ago.
"It's what this is all about-seeing
people realize their dreams," Hidayat
said. "This is a story that was meant
to be told. Live out your dreams-and
write thank-you notes!"

Sharif Hidayat (left)
and Brandon Lagos;
Brandon's letter
(inset).

julie.walker@aopa.org

AOPA.ORG/FT  19



http://www.AOPA.ORG/FT

Flight Training - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Flight Training - December 2019

Contents
Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover4
Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover1
Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover2
Flight Training - December 2019 - Contents
Flight Training - December 2019 - 2
Flight Training - December 2019 - 3
Flight Training - December 2019 - 4
Flight Training - December 2019 - 5
Flight Training - December 2019 - 6
Flight Training - December 2019 - 7
Flight Training - December 2019 - 8
Flight Training - December 2019 - 9
Flight Training - December 2019 - 10
Flight Training - December 2019 - 11
Flight Training - December 2019 - 12
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Flight Training - December 2019 - 15
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Flight Training - December 2019 - 18
Flight Training - December 2019 - 19
Flight Training - December 2019 - 20
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Flight Training - December 2019 - 29
Flight Training - December 2019 - 30
Flight Training - December 2019 - 31
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Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover3
Flight Training - December 2019 - Cover4
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