Our Ladies had a BLAST flying today!

Jun 2017 Our Ladies had a BLAST flying today!

Lady taildragger pilots are the coolest, most adventurous, downright awesome pilots on the planet. This is the first weekend of June 2017, weeks before summer officially kicks off, and our ladies are out there doing their thing. Here’s a tiny sample of the FUN that awaits ladies who fly tailwheel aircraft!

Mary Build. Mary is in the midst of an adventure that just doesn’t quit. She flew her Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser from Maine to Alaska with friend Jeannie Whitin and they are making me so jealous I can hardly stand it. Mary is a FAA Designated Pilot Examiner and owns and operates Naples Seaplane Service, Naples, Maine.

Yesterday was amazing! We flew with K2 Aviation from Talkeetna up to Denali and landed in two feet of snow on a glacier.

Denali and glacier…one of many.

Along the way – Montana.

Back home in Maine.

Marissa Colclasure. A single mother of three gets checked out in a C170B, the taildragger she’ll be flying to our September LadiesLoveTaildraggers Fly-in. She is a CFII, MEI, and Dispatcher.

Marissa Colclasure, gets checked out in C170.

Terri Hull. Terri is HOOKED on taildraggin’ and owns three of them! She reports “I did the trifecta plus one today!” Think about it; a Hatz Biplane, a C140, an RV6 and some thermalling in a sailplane. Amazing. Terri is a CFI and flies captain in a Citation Excel and XLS for NetJets. 

Flying today, all day, just for the fun of it!

Jan Johnson. Jan has BIG news. She says “I bought a warbird!! My new 1945 Stinson L-5 Sentinel.”  Ok, ok, ok, I would LOVE to have it but that doesn’t keep me from being thrilled for this lady taildragger pilot who is bursting at the seams with excitement!

My new baby. Her name is Betty Stinson. She’s a 1945 Stinson L-5/G Sentinel.

That’s my flight instructor in the back (and fellow L-5 owner), all the way from McCall, Idaho, and Mountain Canyon Flying Seminars.

Words just cannot describe the feeling you get when all the planets align, and everything goes as planned. I’ve been dreaming of this day for three months. My team of supporters, who made this day possible: on my right, two of the owner’s sons, and their wives; and my flight instructor and his wife, from Idaho, on my left. I know Frank and Betty Huffman are up there in the clouds – looking down on us today, with big smiles. My husband, Peter – who puts up with all my plane-craziness, is behind the camera. I love you all!

There are MANY MANY more lady taildraggers out flying this weekend, living their dream, and I only wish I could post about them all. Thank you to these ladies for letting me tell their stories. I too flew this weekend, my first 220 n.m. flight in the RV7, Indy to Charleston, WV into Class C airspace – and back. No pictures but they were great flights and I am happy as heck to log time in West Virginia!