I Can Fly

BackStory September 14, 2011

The day I became a pilot!

So I’ve been getting the question a lot lately about how I got into flying, and I figure it best to put it out into the public arena how I did it and what flying is to me.  I learned about flying in High School from two pilots who ran a local flight school in Burbank, California.  When I went home that night to tell my mom that I wanted to be a pilot, she said, “That’s nice honey, can you please pass the peas?”  It’s funny to look back on that night, but my parents have been very supportive since.  I went to a traditional university, graduated, joined the peace corps, and upon my return walked onto Santa Monica airport and started taking flying lessons – 7 years after the day I learned about flying.  And I haven’t left the airport since.  I actually started The Abingdon Co. during my private pilot training because I hadn’t found a pilot’s watch made for women. (Drive right?)  And now it’s my full time job and I ferry aircraft and flight instruct out of KLGB part time to stay current in flying.  It seems that if I go a couple weeks without flying, I start to look at people with homicidal thoughts…flying is better than therapy now.