Stephen West can fly a plane blind, using only the dials and controls in the cockpit, and he can teach you how.

West, a senior in aerospace engineering, spends his weekdays buried under a full academic course load and his weekends teaching triangle residents how to fly planes.

West teaches at FlightGest, a small school at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, teaching the basics of flying single-engine and multi-engine planes.

West, who grew up in Raleigh, said his time training at FlightGest during high school is a big part of why he decided to attend N.C. State. West said it was ultimately his family’s involvement in flying that got him hooked on the hobby.

“My grandfather flew. He started an airline,” West said. “My uncles flew, my aunts were flight attendants, my mother worked as a dispatcher. It’s part of my heritage … [for] as long as I can remember.”

West helps students learn how to fly mostly single-engine planes, such as the Cessna Skyhawk. Single-engine planes are easier to fly, especially since students often come in with little to no flight experience. West has his own secondary set of controls for the plane, which will override the student’s controls, much like cars made for student drivers.

“Of course, I want to avoid using those controls as much as possible, because I want the student to learn to use them,” West said. “A lot of the training in becoming an instructor is trying to find that line, because you want students to make mistakes — that’s how they learn — but, at the same time, you have to keep it safe.”

West is certified to fly blindly, which means he can navigate the skies using only the dials and instruments in the dashboard of the plane, and has taught others to fly the same way. According to West, flying blindly is the only way to fly through thick clouds. West also has experience with multi-engine planes, and if he had more flying hours could apply for a pilot’s position at some of the larger airlines in North Carolina.

“The thing about Raleigh is we have a bunch of outlying airports, about six within driving distance,” West said. “We’re in a really rich aviation community.”

West said he still plans to pursue a career in aerospace engineering, as he worries he might lose his love of flying should he use it as a career. West said there was ultimately only one thing about engineering that made him decide to design planes instead of fly them.

“The potential to change the world,” West said. “Being in aviation is incredible. You really begin to see how engineering impacts people’s day-to-day lives.”

West is also a Park Scholarship recipient, and cites the scholarship as one of the reasons he is able to hold both his position at FlightGest as well as maintain his grades at N.C. State.

Flight training is not the only kind of flying that West does, nor is it why he flies. He recalled a particularly fantastic moment, watching the sunrise above the clouds while flying early one morning, by himself.

“It was perfect,” West said. “Just perfect.”

West said that wherever he goes from here, he promises to keep his eyes out on the horizon.