DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Brandon Burdick sees Macon County from a different perspective.
"One of the coolest feelings is getting to see Decatur or any familiar area from 3000 feet," he said.
Burdick has only been flying for a couple of years, but his passion had been waiting to take off since he was a kid.
"As a kid, I was crazy about the movie 'Top Gun,'" he said with a laugh. "From time to time, we'll play the theme song while we're flying."
But prospective pilots need more than a love of old Tom Cruise movies in order to learn how to fly. They need an instructor and, of course, a plane. That's where the Decatur Aero Club comes in.
"It's one of the best kept secrets of central Illinois," said club president Lynn Hiser. "We've got about 50 members that range from farmers in central Illinois that check their crops to doctors, lawyers, mechanics."
Burdick joined the group two years ago.
"It's really exciting," he said. "There's a good group of us that are really trying to spark some interest in aviation as a whole and we're definitely welcoming new members."
As for the main selling point, it's pretty easy to guess.
"Freedom [is the best part]," Hiser said. "The freedom to be up in the air and see everything on the ground — you see things from the air you can't see from the ground."
Burdick primarily flies for fun and for travel. Other pilots use their shares of the plane to check on their crops or properties in a unique way. But the most surprising part: in a sea of corn and soy fields, our communities really aren't that far apart.
"It gives you a perspective of how close everything really is here," Burdick said.
To learn more about signing up for the Decatur Aero Club, click here.
