Ever since he was a child, biology teacher Bradley Mueller wanted to fly a plane. Now, as an adult, Mueller has achieved his dream of being up in the air after recently receiving his private piloting license, allowing him to fly small, private planes.
Mueller first fell in love with planes when he was a child after spending countless hours watching them land and take off for entertainment.
“You could park on the old Lindbergh, and actually there was a parking lot where you could park and watch planes take off and land, said Mueller, recalling his childhood memories. “My grandma used to take us up there just as a little activity, and we’d sit on the hood of a car and watch planes take off.”
During Mueller’s senior year of high school, he considered two options: either enlist in the Air Force or go to college and major in medicine. He ended up choosing college, but his dream of flying never died.
There are two ways a person can get a pilot’s license: train and test for it in college, or attend private flight school. Mueller took the private flight school approach and did all of his training at Spirit Airport in Chesterfield through the training program Elite Aviation. Mueller and his instructor would fly weekly. 
Because Mueller could only train in good weather, the unpredictability of the weather was a constant obstacle.
“Especially in the winter time, you plan for a day, and if the weather's bad, you just don't fly that day and have to wait until the next week to fly,” said Mueller.
Mueller’s journey to receiving his license included three different steps. First, he had to study for his ground test, which covers all the necessary information for aviation. Then Mueller had to take an oral exam, where an instructor tested him on the terminology associated with flying a plane. Lastly, Mueller had to pass the flight test. 
“It is much like our drivers license test,” said Mueller. “You’re not parallel parking, but you’re worried about if the engine goes out and you’re in an emergency, how do you fix it? How to land, how to take off, how to do a couple different maneuvers.”
With his private licence, Mueller can only fly a Cessna 172, a common type of training aircraft. If he wanted to fly another type of plane, he’d have to spend many more hours training with that specific type of plane. 
Unlike a driver’s license, Mueller’s piloting license never needs to be renewed. In order to keep his license, Mueller simply needs to pass a small ground quiz and an in-air flight review every other year. 
Mueller’s next step is to get an instrument rating, which would allow him to fly in all types of weather. 
Now that he has his license, Mueller would like to create an aviation course for 1818 SLU college credit for SLUH students. While students would not be able to take the course until they were 16, Mueller hopes that by the time they graduate, students will have their private license. 
“Students can do their ground school here, and then could fly in the summer, and get those two and by the time they have graduated, they also would have a private license,” said Mueller. 
Mueller continues to have his eyes set on the sky. In the future, he hopes to tie his love of medicine and flying together in a new occupation.
“I think at some point in my life, I think it would be really cool to work potentially for a corporate company that does transplant flights, so they essentially fly doctors to pick up organs from transplants and then fly them back.”