Jan 2019 Jacinta Richards (Indiana)
Jacinta Richards is based at I80, Noblesville Airport, Noblesville, Indiana.
Hi there! I’m a seventeen-year-old who loves being up in the blue sky. I grew up only a mile away from the good ol’ local grass strip airport and I would always see planes in the traffic pattern flying over my house. My first flight was in a Pipistrel Alpha Trainer when I was twelve, and since that day I knew that I was going to be flying for the rest of my life.
In 2016, I was very blessed to have been selected as an AOPA high school scholarship winner. That scholarship, as well as the support and generosity of local aviators, allowed me to pursue flight lessons in a 1946 Aeronca Champ. After my first solo, I felt like a whole different person and my sixteen-year-old self knew that there was no going back!
I hope to be a private pilot by the summer of 2019. In the meantime, I have been having a blast helping out with local aviation building projects. I can’t wait to get my A&P certificate sometime down the road!
My plan is to study Aviation Flight Technology and Professional Flight in college so I can turn my passion into a career. After that, who knows where life will take me? Missionary flying in Africa, piloting corporate jets, or landing on the sides of Alaskan mountains: I’m keeping my options open! However, I do know that I want to share my love of aviation by teaching other aspiring aviators how to fly in tailwheel planes.
After all, life is short. If you want it to be sweet, fly taildraggers!
Ratings: I’m just a student pilot for now, but hope to change that soon!
Aircraft Flown: Aeronca Champ, Cessna 172, Aeronca Chief, Cessna 162
Dream taildragger: Definitely the Boeing-Stearman or Aeronca C-3!
Thoughts on taildragging: Tailwheel flying is never boring. Those planes have attitudes, but all the fun you will have is so worth it!
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