On your 14th birthday, you may have had some cake, had a few friends over, but Sara Striker of Warman will always remember her 14th as the day she flew solo and became the youngest licensed pilot in North America.

With her successful solo flight, Sara now has her Student Pilot Permit, which is basically like a learner’s licence. She started ground school in March and then started flight training at Millennium Aviation in Saskatoon in July. The only thing holding her back from getting her learner’s was her age. She had to wait until she turned 14.

Sara says she was quite nervous before her flight, when once the wheels were off the ground, she told herself to just fly the plane, and that’s what she did. Planes have been a part of her life since she was a toddler. Sara used to fly a float plane with her dad when she was 2 and they lived at Thompson’s Resort in northern Saskatchewan.

At the age of 14, Sara already knows what she wants to do with her life. Her goal is to become a float pilot, and then graduate to larger airlines like possibly Air Canada or West Jet.