DAVIS COUNTY — It’s the weekend or maybe you took a couple of extra days off for a road trip. Pack the car, fill up the tank and head off for your destination.

Sounds like a typical event for many in Davis County. But there are some who take it one step farther. Call it an air-trip. These enthusiasts pack up the plane and head out for their vacation…and do the flying themselves.

“It gives you a real sense of freedom,” said Bountiful resident Jordan Day, 24, who not only loves to fly but is also an instructor at Salt Lake City International Airport. “With me flying, my wife and I can get to different places faster and sort of hop around to small airports. It’s a great way to spend a weekend.”

Following in the footsteps, or perhaps wing, of his late grandfather, Norman Moore, who worked for US Air and served as the personal pilot for U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Day became licensed to fly commercial just out of high school and has never looked back.

“I love flying so much that I could do it easily as a hobby, but I am one of the lucky people who gets to do what he loves for a living,” Day said. “I get up every day and look at weather patterns and just can’t wait to get to work and help others learn to fly.

“I can’t believe I get paid to fly all day!”

While Day is a professional instructor others also enjoy the freedom of the open skies. When part owner and physical therapist at Performance West Physical Therapy Curtis Jolley needs a break from the madness of life on the ground he looks skyward.

“When I need to unwind, I go flying,” Jolley said. “It’s hard because you’re busy when you’re flying, but it’s so relaxing.”

For Jolley, with his office in Bountiful, the short drive to the Skypark in Woods Cross is all he needs before hoping into the plane he owns with a friend. He also enjoys the benefits of the travel freedom.

“It is definitely a fun way to get someplace and definitely faster,” Jolley said.

Added Day, “There is a definite sense of empowerment to be up in the air and to be able to see places most people will never go. I love to get up in the air and fly over the mountains or the water or even the city. Flying over Temple Square at 1,000 feet…it’s a whole different perspective.”

Neither man has any fear or apprehension of flying. In fact, for Day, the concept doesn’t make sense.

“I think it’s more of the fear of the unknown,” he said. “When people learn how a plane operates and what’s going on I think they feel better.

“For me, it’s perfect.”