ST. CROIX — Flying at
1,000 feet in the air, the tiny Cessna 177 Cardinal hovers in
the sky, dipping its wings to give its passengers a glimpse at
the breathtaking views below.
St. Croix, surrounded by the green-blue Caribbean Sea,
sparkles like a golden-hued emerald in the midst of miles of
shimmering sapphires.
The pilot, known as "Captain Al," points out the various sites
of the island, highlighting historical and cultural areas such
as Sandy Point, Frederiksted, Columbus Landing, Christiansted,
Buck Island and Point Udall.
The flight lasts about an hour, giving the passengers —
pressing their faces against the windows to see better —
plenty of time to gaze at the varied landscape far beneath
them.
Al Jan Jr., steering the plane with sure and steady hands,
never tires of seeing St. Croix from the air. He's been giving
flight tours of the island for the past four years.
Enamored with flying and airplanes as far back as he can
remember, Jan is the owner of Air Ventures in Paradise — a
business through which he offers aerial tours of St. Croix, as
well as flight lessons.
"Airplanes have been the center of my life since my earliest
recollection,"
he said. "I cannot remember when I wasn't in love with
flying."Growing up in Texas, Jan spent many of his boyhood
hours building model airplanes. He moved on to gas models and
then to radio control models. He was always full of questions,
always wanting to learn more about flying.
"I hung around airports when I was big enough to ride a
bicycle," he said, recalling how he would look at the
airplanes and talk with the pilots.
As far as why he loves planes and flying so much, Jan finds it
difficult to find the right words.
"It's kind of what a sailor sees in a sea, or an explorer in
the Amazon,"
he mused. "It's a feeling of freedom and exhilaration I can't
get anywhere else."
When he was about 15, Jan began his first flying lessons. It
wasn't always easy, mostly due to the high expense involved
with learning to fly.
"My family was not well-to-do," he said.
But as he was able to scrape together the money, he devoted
his time to practicing as much as possible. He was able to
solo at the age of 19, but didn't get his first certificate
until after graduating from college. At the University of
Houston, Jan studied physics and math — putting flying on hold
for awhile. But he doesn't regret that decision.
"Going to and finishing college was one of the smartest things
I did as a young person," he said, noting that a good flying
job requires having an education. "You can never go wrong by
having a college degree."
After college, he was able to get a loan of "a huge amount of
money." It helped him get a good start in commercial aviation
and he became a flight instructor less than a year after
graduating. Then he "went corporate" for about a year and
worked as a pilot for a large corporation called Tenneco.
He had interviews with several airlines but "just kinda
decided on a career change."
"As much as I loved flying, and still found it fun, I realized
it lacked the challenge that I thought I needed in the
business world," he explained.
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