People can be excused for mistaking boyish Landon Skunberg as just a novice young student when he's seen hanging around the Sun Valley Aviation training room at Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey.
Big mistake.
Landon Skunberg, in fact, is a pilot extraordinaire, with more aeronautical credentials than people twice his age.
At 20 years old, he has:
· A jet pilot's rating in all Cessna Citation 500 series and is co-pilot on a Hailey-based, privately-owned Citation 560 jet.
· An Aircraft & Powerplant (A&P) mechanic's license, which he obtained at 18 years old.
· A Certified Flight Instructor Instruments (CFII) license, which he obtained at 19.
· Advanced Ground Instrument Instructor license.
· Commercial pilot license and multi-engine and instrument ratings.
· His own 1946 model Cessna 140 single-engine airplane.
Add one more surprise to this checklist of achievements: Skunberg also is Sun Valley Aviation's chief instructor, with 27 students ranging in age from 16 years old to 50, whose flight work on a variety of pilot licenses requires him to fly about 130 hours per month during the summer.
Now for the drawbacks.
At 20, he's too young to drink alcoholic beverages in Idaho (not that he wants to) and, worse, is too young to rent a car from the leading rental companies. They require a minimum age of 21 years and then will slap on a special charge until the driver is 25.
Skunberg takes this oddball disadvantage of youth—and the irony of being licensed to fly a 15,000-pound, 471-mile-per-hour jet but too young to rent a small car—in stride and with a chuckle, acknowledging, however, that he's looking forward to his 21st birthday in July. He also owns his own 1980 Ford Fiesta.
Even when he's told rental agencies he's licensed to fly a jet, he's still turned down.
Skunberg isn't finished achieving, however. He wants to begin work on his Air Transport Pilot (ATP) rating, which can't be issued until his 23rd birthday.
This growing resume of aviation credentials comes naturally. Skunberg, a native of Salmon, grew up at the knee of his father, Lenny, who owns and operates Lenny's Airmotive at the Salmon airport.
Pilot Landon Skunberg sits at the helm of a Hailey-based Citation 560 jet. Photo by David N. Seelig
