John Niemczyk completed his first solo flight on October 12, 2011. John is the first of his Private Pilot class to complete this important milestone: Flying an airplane without an instructor aboard. 

In keeping with an age old tradition, Niemczyk's shirt-tail was "trimmed", his name and date of first solo was inked onto the cloth, which is now posted prominently at the Crookston Airport.

Photos by Carolyn Clark, John's flight instructor