Following his dreams to the skies

Marisa O’Neil

Most parents want to see their children spread their wings and fly.

Few get to do it literally.

Yesterday, Newport Harbor High School senior and Russian native

Edik Passmore made his first solo flight out of John Wayne Airport

after three months of training. His mother, Newport Beach resident

Susan Jordan-Passmore, said that he’s been fascinated with flying

ever since she and husband John Passmore adopted their son from a St.

Petersburg orphanage seven years ago.

“It’s been his dream, always, to be a pilot,” his mother said.

“Ever since his first flight from Russia, that’s what he’s wanted to

do.”

Thursday, he made his first step toward his dream of a pilot’s

license with three takeoffs and landings over Orange County.

“It was a bit scary doing the first landing all by myself,” he

said after his flights. “It was a bit windy and as you get lower the

winds move the plane around. The second time, it was easier and by

the third time I was fine.”

The soft-spoken Passmore started practicing on flight simulators

shortly after he came to the United States, just before his 11th

birthday. He plans to go to college when he graduates next year and

major in aviation and minor in Russian.

Ultimately, he wants to be an airline pilot.

“We’ve spent a lot of time working on his passions,”

Jordan-Passmore said. “From day one, he knew the names of cars and

planes, before he could even speak English. I’d look up and I could

barely even see the plane. My husband, who knows planes, would look

and say: ‘He’s right.’”

Edik Passmore, who just turned 18, didn’t speak a word of English

when he stepped on his first airplane and flew to America.

“I thought America was just one, big, happy place,” he said. “I

didn’t even know it had different states.”

Jordan-Passmore said that they not only had to get beyond the

language barrier with their son, but deal with the fact that he was

two years behind in school. She said that she studied a little

Russian and used charades to communicate with her son at first.

When he started school in fifth grade, he struggled so much that

his teacher gave him a shorter list of vocabulary words to learn.

After other students complained, his teacher wrote 10 Russian words on the board for them to learn so they could better appreciate

Passmore’s challenge.

For each night of homework, Jordan-Passmore said, she and her

husband would put in an extra four hours of studying with him so he

could catch up. She said that his dedication and abilities have

surpassed all her expectations.

“It wasn’t until after three weeks or so that it came up that he

was born in Russia,” his flight instructor, Veronica Saldivar at

Sunrise Aviation, said. “I never would have guessed. I’ve been very

impressed with his ability to learn and cope with all the data.”

Passmore carries a 3.44 grade-point average, is enrolled in

advanced placement classes and studies Russian language in addition

to his flying lessons.

“In his classes he knows what hard work means,” Angela Newman, his

teacher in a Newport Harbor college preparation class said. “He

probably needs to study more than other students, but he’s willing to

put in that extra work in order to do well.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.