My day job is as an Administrative Support Associate at Wake Forest School of Medicine; however, my true avocation has been volunteering, which I’ve been doing since the early 1980s. My service has included caring for the terminally ill, helping abused women make a better life, and doing telephone crisis line work. In the past several years, I’ve been enjoying volunteering at Sugar Valley Airport, where I teach private pilot ground school several times a year, free of charge, as a service to the general aviation community.
I also serve as a Civil Air Patrol cadet orientation pilot and officer in our local squadron, as an EAA Young Eagles pilot, and as an FAA Safety Team representative. One of the most rewarding activities, though, has been to serve as the chairman of the Kitty Hawk Chapter of The Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots in support of our members!
I live with my pet conure in the Farmington community of Davie County, NC, in a cottage at Sugar Valley Airport. The view outside the living room window just can’t be matched, as it is of a runway for small planes and a lake for all kinds of wildlife!
What got you interested in aviation?
Ever since childhood in the early 1960s, while watching the planes approaching and departing Smith Reynolds Airport in Winston-Salem, NC, I wished to be up there with those pilots, to see what they were seeing and experience what they were enjoying. It wasn’t until 1999, though, that I began to realize my dream. Never having set foot in a small plane, I took my first inspiring flight lesson!
How did you get started flying?
For years before I took my first flight in a small plane, I would imagine what it was like to fly. I searched the telephone directory’s Yellow Pages to see if there were any local flight schools, and there were—but, practically speaking, I just couldn’t undertake flight training at that time. It wasn’t until several decades later that I was able to try it!
What was your first flight like?
My first flight was in a small Piper—a Warrior, maybe. I could not believe it that during our taxi to the runway to take off, the instructor actually let me steer the plane! It was amazing to be given the controls during most of the flight and to be guided as to what to do. That experience made it real that learning to fly would truly be possible!
What do you like about flying?
Sometimes, when the air is smooth and clear and the radio is quiet, experiencing the profound beauty of the sky and the landscape and the serenity of the air, it almost seems to be a spiritual experience!
The other thing about flying that is wonderful is being able to teach private pilot ground school and see people take the first steps toward their own dreams of flight. Some of these students have even gone on to take up flying as a career! Seeing others learn, grow, overcome obstacles, and succeed is tremendously rewarding, and I am very grateful to be able to contribute in that way.
What’s the most challenging part of flying?
Confidence has been an elusive quality for me to attain. It has been—and continues to be—a challenge to be confident in both my day-to-day activities and in flying. With the flying, constantly honing skills and training to stretch my experiential envelope have been making a difference. Aviation has changed me—in a good way—thanks to persistently working to overcome fears and limiting beliefs. It’s a work in progress, though.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to pursue a career in aviation?
You can do this! It may take a lot of effort, though—study, skill building, overcoming challenges and roadblocks, etc., but if you love to fly, it will be worth it!
