Horstman, 56, is Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone Aviation, a privately owned flight school that specializes in training students who want any rating from sport pilot to airline transport pilot certification.

The flight school operates facilities in Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo, and controls a fleet of about 17 single- and multi-engine planes.

“People are always going to fly,” Horstman said. She was referring to the recent national flap over exorbitant fuel prices, rising costs for air travel and industry job cut backs. According to published studies: “. . . domestic airfares are up this summer 12 percent to 15 percent and on some routes more than 200 percent.”

“The world is too mobile for the industry to not bounce back,” Horstman said. She admits, however, that soaring fuel costs have cut into the school's leisure flying activity.

“We've seen a drop in recreational flying,” she said. “Gas prices are causing people to watch their dollars.

“Airline hiring is cyclical. Right now it is in the low cycle so they stopped hiring and this might negatively impact some student acquisition.”

Horstman said a flight student might spend as much $50,000 securing the accreditation to pursue an airline pilot position. New pilots typically earn a salary of only about $22,000, during their first year of probationary flying.

Pay does, however, increase during a pilot's second year.

“The way to look at it is that students spend a lot of money learning a skill that, initially, pays them an intern's salary,” said Skye Baker, a Cornerstone flight instructor.

Adding to the uncertainty is a highly publicized cloud of bankruptcy currently hanging over some national and regional airlines.

Locally, industry pilot interviews and hiring are at an all-time high, although many new hires are placed on a “bank list,” which means they are not active, paid employees and they must wait until flying officer positions are available.

Pilots may have to wait for more than a year before they actually begin working, Baker said.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the government agency that regulates and oversees all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S. Cornerstone Aviation is a FAA approved Part 141-flight-school, the highest rating given by the government agency.

“With the airline problems being cyclical,” Horstman said. “People who train now will be in a great position for jobs when the industry recovers.”

Horstman, however, isn't just circling in a holding pattern waiting for domestic airlines to heal from their current ills. She is reaching out to foreign markets to recruit students and expand her business.

To that end, Horstman has begun enrolling students from India and China who will train for pilots' licenses in the Salt Lake City area.

She said Cornerstone's international division offers a monthlong, pre-enrollment course to assure that the students can speak English well enough to complete their flying lessons.

Even though the availability of airline jobs can serve as a gauge for the health of the industry, for some people, the call to fly is not solely determined by a push to make money.

Consider Breen Holmes, a 40-year-old former executive with a local out-sourcing firm.

Holmes earned a private pilot's license in 1998, but didn't immediately chase an aviation career.

“I've wanted to be a pilot most of my life,” said Holmes, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology.

A year ago, he quit his job to obtain his instrument rating and train as a Certified Flight Instructor.

Now he is one of Cornerstone's newest instructors. And, while he admits his executive job paid a better salary, his flight teaching position is more personally rewarding.

“I am a dad,” he said. “Being an airline pilot isn't that attractive to me because it requires being away from home a lot. The industry is going through a crazy time right now, but somehow this is the right time in my life to do what I've always wanted.”