Maverick Foletta, 8-year-old pilot from Salina, California, chases his ‘Top Gun’ dreams

SALINAS, Calif. () — Maverick Foletta is quickly on his way to becoming a pilot.

The 8-year-old from Salinas has been taking flying lessons and has logged more than 10 hours in the air so far, a remarkable start for someone his age.

Even with that many hours, Maverick told KSBW there is a lot to keep track of when flying.

“You have all your instruments, and you have to look outside mostly,” he said.

He said his love of flying began when his dad first introduced him to lessons two years ago and he’s been hooked ever since.

“He gave me some lessons. I really enjoyed it,” Maverick said. “Recently, he gave me some more lessons, and I’m enjoying it right now.”

“It’s always my dream to fly with Maverick, and that was like, a dream come true,” said Michael Foletta, Maverick’s father.

Enoch Weichers, Maverick’s instructor, praised him for his work ethic.

“Kids really tend to learn really quickly because they don’t have any preconceived notions of how to do things,” Weichers said. “He’s very humble and a very quick learner.”

Most students are ready to fly solo after 40-60 hours of flight time, but Weichers believes he’ll be ready much sooner.

“If Maverick could, he’d probably be ready to solo pretty soon, maybe in the next couple of flight lessons,” Weichers said.

Maverick has a reason behind his motivation to fly.

“It’s because I want to be like Top Gun Maverick,” he said.