 "Photo: Photo courtesy of The Dieterich family")
Cody Dieterich is a normal college student. He enjoys playing soccer, listening to Lil Wayne and hanging out with his fraternity brothers. Unlike other college students though, Cody is a pilot.
Always having expressed an interest in flying, Cody, a freshman broadcast journalism and political science major from Colorado Springs, Colo., wanted to be a pilot since he was a kid and is fascinated with military planes and pilots. His interests in planes and flying have been passed down from his grandfather and parents Didi and Dirk Dieterich, who also always have had an interest in flying.
Dirk, a 1978 Texas Tech alumus, started earning his license while living in Midland shortly after graduating from college. A lack of time and financial resources put his lessons on hold until Cody decided he wanted his pilots’ license.
Didi, an architect, was interested in planes as a child. Her father took her to the airport, where she could identify almost every plane and they frequently visited the control tower. Didi followed Dirk and decided to get her license as well.
“When Cody and Dirk started flying lessons, I thought they were having a lot of fun and I didn’t want to miss out,” Didi said.
As Cody grew older and his interest in aviation continued, his dad said when he reached a certain age, he could begin pursuing his license. Meanwhile, Cody was able to maintain an active role in flying-related activities.
The summer before his eighth-grade year, Cody joined the Civil Air Patrol Auxiliary, a non-militant branch of the U.S. Air Force. Cody was a staff sergeant and conducted duties such as search and rescue, civil service, and disaster relief.
In 2006, a 16-year-old Cody and his family started researching how to obtain pilots licenses. Searching for places to take lessons, the Dieterichs struggled to find a place that would allow a minor to fly.
“We checked into Pike’s Peak Flyers, a flying club at a local airport here in Colorado Springs,” Dirk said. “They owned a couple of planes but weren’t set up due to insurance restrictions to accept a minor.”
While searching for an instructor, the Dieterichs purchased a half interest in a 1964 Piper Cherokee 180 airplane for training with a local preacher who also was learning to fly with his son. The preacher then introduced them to Certified Flight Instructor Al von Ahlefeldt, who later became their instructor as well.
Cody and Dirk began lessons, and Didi started shortly after in May 2007. Due to scheduling conflicts with school, sports and work, Cody put his flying lessons on hold. After about a year, Dirk and Didi earned their licenses.
Didi received her Private Pilot Certificate, or “ticket” as seasoned pilots call it, which allows her to fly single-engine airplanes. Dirk received his Private Pilot Single Engine Land with a checkoff approval to fly high performance and complex aircraft.
In November 2008 the Dieterichs purchased a Piper Saratoga, a high-performance six-seater airplane Cody said he prefers to the Piper Cherokee that “held a very uncomfortable four.”
Although Cody has yet to earn his license, he continues to fly in his spare time and frequently uses the plane to travel back and forth between his home in Colorado and school.
“We use the plane when we have to come to Lubbock,” Cody said. “It makes a seven-and-a-half-hour drive into a two-hour flight, so it’s nice.”
Dirk, who flies the planes most often, uses the plane frequently for business purposes. Owning businesses in Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado, Dirk travels often. Didi, who was used to flying at least once a week, has spent some time away from the plane but hopes to return to a regular flying schedule after the holidays.
Cody said his friends are usually in disbelief when he tells them his family owns planes and he is earning his pilot’s license, but it is not usually something he tells everybody. Although he continues to fly, he has made a lot of promises to his friends who want rides in the plane.
“I haven’t taken anyone up yet,” Cody said. “The opportunity hasn’t come up, but I’ve promised many. Everyone wants to be the first.”
For now, Cody is continuing to earn flying hours of practice so he can fully obtain his license.
A life-long dream and family legacy Cody is enjoying his time flying, which he said takes him out of this world.
“There is a certain, I guess, mystique to flying,” Cody said. “You seem more released from the real world than any other thing.”
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