The Jeff Black Story: From Bath County to The Modern Era

By Herb Rubenstein

Jeff Black tells everyone he is from Bath County, Virginia.  His life story is complex.  Bath County is very rural, with four thousand people living in the county in 2022.  He now lives in Lexington, VA, a city of 7 near Rockbridge County, that is rural and has 33,000 people.

Jeff is a successful real estate agent and a personal trainer.  He had a phobia of flying in an airplane, any airplane, and at the age of 45, he had never gotten into a plane and was never going to get into a plane.  This phobia had tied his arms, beaten him brutally, stole his spirit, controlled his brain, and, even worse, cost him a relationship with a woman he really cared for. 

Without knowing of this phobia, in February 2022 I invited Jeff to come on an airplane flight, a discovery flight lesson by Blue Ridge Aviation, in a four-seater, propeller-driven plane over the beautiful Shenandoah Valley in the fall to see the colors of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the rivers, the ski runs at Massanutten, and fly over his alma mater, James Madison University.  He told me why he could not do this, and I pledged to see if I could assist him in taking his first flight in October to see the leaves change in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.

I told Jeff about a local hypnotherapist I had met, and to his great credit, he set up an appointment with her.  And he had a lot of appointments with her.  Then he told me that he might be able to fly in an airplane someday.  We talked about flying during every personal training session.  He told others what he was attempting to do – take an airplane ride.

What had stopped him?  He had a clear picture, or a “mental video,” a false video, of him falling out of a plane.  I told him about seat belts in the plane and how they worked, but facts don’t matter to a person with a phobia encased in “steel.”  No desire to fly in an airplane and no will generated by Jeff’s bountiful spirit in February 2022 seemed to stand a chance against a phobia and video that Jeff knew he had made up but could never turn off.

He had even met a woman whom he really liked, not an easy feat for a man 45 years old in our rural area.  This woman told him in no uncertain terms - she loved to fly and his not flying was a deal breaker.  The “relationship” never materialized as Jeff could not get into an airplane.

Since I was planning to hire a private plane to take me and two others and a commercial pilot to see the leaves change in October, I had a deadline for Jeff’s inaugural flight, his discovery flight lesson, that we were not going to miss if I had a vote in the matter. 

Jeff took this all on as a challenge.  Jeff loves challenges. He worked with a hypnotherapist in the spring and summer.  Finally, in late summer 2022, Jeff told me his hypnotherapist had told him that she thought he was ready to begin to take concrete steps toward getting into an airplane.  So, in September, Jeff and I drove to the Shenandoah Regional Airport in Weyers Cave, Virginia.  We walked around the small airport and walked into Blue Ridge Aviation.  They were expecting us and knew of Jeff’s phobia and that he had never been in an airplane before.  I told them we were coming to help Jeff get familiar with the airport, learn more about flying in general, and hopefully discuss setting a date for Jeff and myself and a guest of his choice to fly over the Shenandoah Valley for an hour.  I was paying for the flight because I had for months planned to take this “leaf peeking” flight.  My gift to Jeff.

We were greeted at Blue Ridge Aviation by Sarah Grefe, who runs the office. As we walked in at the appointed time, she stood up and walked towards us from behind her desk and shook our hands. Welcome to the best of the south.  She told us about the company, its pilots, the cost of the flight, and then introduced us to Melissa Smiley, a student pilot then who is now a commercial pilot.  I asked Melissa how she got into pursuing a career as a pilot, as she is one of the few women in rural Virginia to pursue this career. 

Then Melissa, understanding the situation with Jeff fully, said, “Let’s go outside to where the planes are parked, watch them taxi, take off and land, and get familiar with flying.”  As we walked out, we watched takeoffs and landings.  As we were walking back to the office of Blue Aviation, we walked by a small plane.  Melissa opened the door to the pilot’s seat and told Jeff to get into the plane.  He sat in the pilot’s seat, put on the seat belt, and was one step closer, actually many steps closer to his first flight.  It did not hurt that Melissa was a smart, personable, attractive, professional, a take-charge person, and there is no doubt Jeff did not want to let her down.  With Sarah’s graciousness, Melissa’s passion and confidence in flying, and Blue Aviation’s excellent reputation for safety, Jeff knew he was in good hands, especially since Melissa was about to be certified for her commercial pilot’s license.

We booked the discovery flight lesson, Jeff’s inaugural flight, for October 27th.  Jeff invited his best friend he calls “Bro,” to be the third passenger on the flight.  His best friend, Jeff Goldstein, said he would drive us to the airport.  On the way, Jeff Black was clearly nervous, and Jeff Goldstein was the reassuring, kind-hearted “older brother” telling Jeff Black he could do this and that everything would be alright.

We got to the airport 30 minutes early, and Jeff Black’s stomach was turning. He needed something “salty” to calm his stomach and left the hanger and walked all around the airport looking for a vending machine, anything that had some food he could buy.  Jeff Black came back to the office with a bag of Fritos, and his stomach started calming down.

Then we were introduced to Colton Landes, our pilot for the day.  Colton walked into the reception area of the hanger, handed out headphones, explained what they were for, did a final weather (wind) check, and said we were ready to go knowing full well about Jeff Black’s phobia of flying that had not yet been overcome just five minutes before takeoff.

Colton walked us to the plane, explained to all of us his entire checklist, his flying experience, and with his calm confidence, guided each person to their seat in the plane, headphones on, seatbelts fastened.  The engine started, the plane moved, and Colton explained all of the instrument readings, everything going over the radio, and we took off.  Jeff Black sat next to the pilot during the entire discovery flight lesson.  He kept his head down during takeoff and would not look out of a window or the windshield.  Then Colton brought the nose of the plane down to level off at cruising altitude and said, “Jeff, Look at this sky.  We have a great day for flying.”  Jeff Black finally looked up, started talking about what he saw out the windows and windshield, and even took this beautiful photo of the Massanutten ski and golf resort in Virginia. 

Jeff was now “flying,” and phobia disappeared.  A phobia that Jeff had for possibly over forty years completely disappeared.  Jeff got control of his life in an instant.  He faced his greatest fear in stages, going from head down in the cockpit on takeoff to heads up at cruising altitude to see the beautiful Shenandoah Valley.  Not only did Jeff survive, he climbed with the plane, seeing what he could do on the day of his discovery flight lesson on October 27th that he could never do a minute before noon that day.  Jeff took our smooth landing in stride, looking all around during the descent and touch down.

Jeff Black bought us lunch.  Still a little shaken but prouder of himself than he could ever have been before he took his first airplane flight.  He said he wanted to fly commercial someday to the Florida Keys.  He posted on Facebook about his first flight and got over 200 replies.  He has talked about taking his daughter and parents on a flight, as they have never flown in an airplane.

This is the story of Jeff Black from 1977 to 2022.  Where Jeff Black’s story leads for the next 45 years of his life is unknown.  But now, possibilities exist for Jeff Black that did not exist for him on October 26, 2022.  And isn’t that the key to life, using every day to open up new possibilities for ourselves and those we care about? 

Some would say Jeff Black developed the courage to fly in an airplane.  I think Jeff Black’s success is less about courage and more about his making a decision to do what he thought for years he could never do.  The team of the hypnotherapist, Holly, Sarah, Melissa, Colton, Jeff Goldstein, and myself, certainly made a difference.  But Jeff Black made the real difference, and his life will be different and better for his getting in that plane and slaying that dragon and stopping that video he had created falling out of a plane that had stopped him in his tracks.

While Jeff Black may be from Bath County, his discovery flight lesson made clear that what is now more important to him and his life is where he is going and not where he came from.  Jeff Black is in the middle of this picture. Jeff Goldstein is on the left. and I am shaking hands with Jeff, obviously very proud of Jeff Black and his entire team.