Meet Noah!

Q: What is your name, where are you from?
A: My name is Noah Franklin and I’m from the Louisville area.

Q: What are three interesting things about you that no one would guess?
A: My hair is fluffier than the average human because I run my fingers through it so much. I only wear Nike Air Force Ones (shoes) and I am horrible at cooking.

Q: What were you doing before you came to LIFT?
A: I graduated from high school one month before I started at LIFT.

Q: What do you think helped prep you best for LIFT?
A: So my uncle is a pilot at Southwest Airlines, so he kind of told me all the things that I might need to know, including study habits that I needed to form before I got to LIFT as well as ways that flight training could be different from like regular high school or college.

Q: What did your journey to aviation look like?
A: I wanted to become a pilot because I wanted to do something that not everybody can do. I take pride in knowing that I worked hard enough to be able to do something, something that isn’t seen as a regular job or the same office view as someone who is working in a cubicle. What first interested me was actually my parents. They would take my brother and I to the airport and we would just sit and watch the airplanes.

Q: What do you remember about your first week/day at LIFT?
A: What I remember about when I first got to LIFT was meeting different people from different backgrounds and meeting people that had different paths than I did. I also remember being excited that I would get to fly the brand new planes. When I did my private, I trained in a Cessna 172.

Q: What is life like as a student at LIFT?
A: While I never went to a traditional college, I tried to make it as if this is my college or my job. I would try to get to LIFT early in the morning even on the days I didn’t fly and maybe find a quiet room and do some studying and gather my thoughts for upcoming flights. When I first started, there were only like 12 people here so I got to fly pretty much every day if I wanted to.

Q: What is life like as a CFI at LIFT?
A: It’s pretty great getting to see people reach their goals like I did. I love knowing you play a small part in their journey, working to get what they want to do in life, and that’s good. From day-to-day, we have 2-hour flight blocks and are you usually flying, doing ground training or in the SIMs. I have a couple of my own students that I work with, but I mostly work with all students making sure they are ready to move on to the next stage of their training. It’s tough when someone doesn’t pass and I don’t like stopping someone from moving on but also I want to see them succeed in the long run, and I know it is important for them to be ready to move on before they actually do.

Q: Why do you want to be a commercial airline pilot? What are you looking forward to after you become one?
A: I want to become an airline pilot because I enjoy people and it’s a unique job where you can meet different types of people. I am looking forward to going to different parts of the world once I become a commercial airline pilot!

Q: Why has LIFT been a good fit for you?
A: LIFT has been a good fit for me because my overall goal was to go to the Airlines and Republic owns LIFT. The program here is structured with the same checklists and other tools Republic uses, and I feel like this will make sure that I have a head start on my airline career.

Q: How would you describe the LIFT atmosphere?
A: At LIFT you try to have a professional relationship with your instructor but also you need to have some kind of a personal relationship as well. You want to know their background and you know where they come from because that helps you connect a little better. When you’re a student the other students you start with will reach out to you and it becomes sort of like a family. When you have a similar background coming from the same class, we typically study together and maybe hang out a bit. I definitely have a lot of lifelong friends that I can go to maybe when I need something outside of flying, if I just want to go hang out with somebody, it is a great environment!

Q: Advice to yourself?
A: There are going to be bumps in the road, not everything’s going to be smooth sailing especially in this industry, so I would go back and tell myself that things are going to happen but you need to still keep at it and don’t ever give up, don’t think about giving up. It is a bad mindset to have, so just keep trucking through.

Q: What do you do for fun outside of training?
A: Outside of flight training and working as a CFI, I like to work out, to go golfing with my family and my friends, to go play basketball and I really love going to the movie theater and am so excited for them to open back up.