Ever since I was five, I have had a passion for flying,” says David Pankove of West Windsor. “My dream job is to get paid for flying.” ##M:[more]##Well on his way to getting his pilot licence, Pankove, the first pilot in his family, is determined for a future as a corporate or commercial pilot.
He began flying on orientation flights when he was 13 and has taken the controls after a plane stalls and while doing 45 degree turns. A member of the Civil Air Patrol, he attended Falcon Flight Encampment at Lakehurst Naval Air Station earlier this month and now has his student pilot certificate and more than 13 hours of flight time. He’s already passed a pre-solo written test. He plans to take the written pilot test at Mercer College in the near future and get a job to raise the $3,”000 for the remainder of his flying requirements.
Pankove was born in New Brunswick and has lived in West Windsor all his life. His parents, Melissa and Simon, own Insearch, a company based in West Windsor. His sister, Rebecca, 10, will be a sixth grader at Community Middle School in September.
A rising junior at the Hun School, he is active on water polo, swim, and crew teams at school. “It is sometimes difficult to find a balance between the three sports, CAP, and schoolwork (he has an 89 average),” he says. Pankove previously attended Dutch Neck, Upper Elementary, and Community schools.
A cadette second lieutenant with the Twin Pine Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, Pankove plans to be a cadette commander by September. He recently received the Commander’s Commendation Award (The News, July 7).
He first heard about the civil air patrol program through his father, whose friend in Colorado had a daughter in it. After reading about it on the web, he attended his first squadron meeting in January, 2003. “This is something for me and something I want to do.” At the time, Pankove, 13, was a seventh grade student at Community Middle School.
The remainder of his summer includes three weeks in a scuba diving program in the Caribbean, four days in a water polo camp at Princeton University, and then he will attend Airline Career Exploration, a national cadet program in Denver, requiring application, interviews, and tests. Pankove ranked 7 out of 42.
Civil Air Patrol, founded in 1941, is the official auxiliary of the United States Air Force. Cadets, ages 12 to 18, and seniors, over 18, learn about aerospace education, participate in programs that allow them to gain hands-on training, and train for group and air search and rescue operation. Visit www.cap.gov. for more information.
