On Nov. 26, his 16th birthday, Evan Schuessler of Flagstaff became the youngest pilot on record to fly solo at the Sedona Airport under the auspices of the airport’s newly-established flight school, Untethered Aviation.

“We’ve had several students who have soloed on their 16th birthday,” Michelle Smith, a pilot and educator who is one of Untethered’s cofounders, said. “Evan is our very first here, now that we’re open in Sedona.”

“Most pilots say this, but my dad took me to an airshow in Vegas, and I had a lot of fun, and thought this is something I’d like to do,” Schuessler said. “Took a discovery flight in Flagstaff and got lucky with people in Sedona, just knowing people and then started taking lessons.”

Schuessler began his lessons when he was 15 with Jacob Carter, who grew up in Sedona, himself learned to fly at the Sedona Airport and later graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott.

“He was flying maybe a few times a month, and then we did the transition in October to Mike [Wolford],” Smith said, referring to the school’s cofounder and certified flight instructor. “Evan and Jacob had been working toward that solo status, which typically takes about 12 to 15 hours … That’s a bigger moment, probably, than getting your private pilot license.

“As we made this transition, we found out that his birthday was Nov. 26, and he really desperately wanted to solo on his birthday, because you have to be 16 to do so. We worked together on that, and sure enough, the weather was perfect and he was ready. It was a major, major event. We’ve asked many, many people at the airport, including the administration, people who have been there for many many years — there’s no recollection of a student soloing on their 16th birthday out of Sedona Airport.”

“We had it planned with a different instructor, ’cause we wanted to do it on my 16th birthday, ’cause that’s like a very rare thing,” Schuessler said. “It’s a thing that we’ve wanted to do and the instructors wanted to do, so it was planned pretty far in advance. We weren’t sure if it was actually going to happen … I was up for just one takeoff and one landing. I didn’t do any touch-andgoes. It was short, but still solo.”

“He’s coming back on Sunday [Jan. 5] to solo again in Sedona,” Smith said on Jan. 2. “He’s progressing beautifully through the program and he’s working on now ground school, so he can pass his written exam. By 17, he can actually take his checkride.”

“We’re hoping to do my checkride on my 17th birthday,” Schuessler said. “We haven’t really thought much about it, but that is the plan. I should have my hours by then … The end goal is to be a commercial pilot.”

Schuessler said he now has close to 20 hours and is feeling more comfortable with his takeoffs.

“At first that was a very sketchy thing that I didn’t think would get any easier, but it did,” Schuessler said. “The landings are still very tough, though.”

“People are a little spooked by this airport,” Smith said of the Sedona Airport’s reputation for unpredictable winds. “It’s so doable, though, in Sedona, and it really makes you a better, stronger pilot, because you have the safety net of working with Mike … He’s been doing this about 45 years. He’s a former hang glider pilot, a glider guy, sailplane, wingsuiter now — he’s anything air. There’s a real level of proficiency that comes with being that kind of an airman. That, I think, is why people are really resonating with him. They’re coming to meet with him from different states to fly mountain flying and terrain flying because he knows it so well. Understands thermals, understands convection, air movement and airflow, not to mention how to manage the plane in those conditions.”

“We’ve gotten very lucky in the timeframe that I’ve been learning to fly,” Schuessler said. “It’s been reasonably calm, but there are some windy days. My instructor Mike says rough air makes better pilots.”

“We started in Sedona in April 2024,” Smith said. The school also has locations in upstate New York, Massachusetts and Vermont. “We were struggling with the number of flyable days in the Northeast. We can fly about 350 days a year in Sedona, which makes a big difference … We do have students who are actually coming out to our Sedona location on their breaks to work with us here.

“Certainly down the road we’ll be looking for another certified flight instructor to help as we expand. It is only a 10- minute flight for us from Sedona to Flagstaff, so we are looking at ways to partner with people up in Flagstaff, because there are several interested students, but they don’t want to have to drive.”

“I’ve flown with Untethered in Flagstaff once, like three days before the solo, just to keep the skills sharp,” Schuessler said. “But it’s mostly just Sedona.”

“It’s pretty busy right now, which is really great,” Smith said. “We can’t get everybody on the schedule when they want to, either … We have two planes here; we’re using both … they’re both Piper Cherokee 140s with the 160 upgrade engine, as well as the Power Flow exhaust and the climb prop. That was all very intentional before bringing the planes out here, because we knew density altitude and all of that. They climb. That’s the biggest thing that we need here. They’re beautiful little planes. One of them is actually mine. Brand-new engines, lowtime airframes.”

She noted that both planes still have conventional gauges rather than digital displays.

“It’s important to know how to work that,” Smith said, adding that younger pilots sometimes have trouble with the traditional instruments. “They’re very reliant on a screen.”

“We’re ready to make Sedona pilots,” Smith added. “That’s what we’re calling them now.”