WfC student Pastor Rick Cobb proudly displays his freshly cut shirt tails, a traditional right of passage for freshly soloed students.

Congratulations are in order for Wings for Christ student pilot Rick Cobb, pastor of Journey Christian Community church, in China Spring, Texas.

“Wow, what a relief!” said Rick, who confessed he thought the day would never come after his first flight. That was back on December 3, 2009 and on April 14, 2010, he did a great job completing his three takeoffs and landings by himself in Gracie, according to Chief Pilot Monte Michael.

The solo occurred after three days of intense training to prepare for the flight. A mechanical failure of the left brake lines almost derailed the pace, but Chief of Maintenance Joel New procured a new brake line in Mexia and quickly repaired the problem. Gracie was also down for three months during Rick’s training schedule for annual inspection and a carburetor rebuild, which took most of that time.

Considering the delays in his training, Pastor Rick did a great job getting to his solo as soon as he did. According to Rick, he plans to use his skills as a pilot to assist him in the active church planting he is involved with. Currently, he visits three churches on a regular basis and has plans to start several more in the future. Being able to fly between them will greatly increase his time on the ground living out his call to serve Jesus Christ.