Sheila Mabbitt (Tennessee)

Jan 2010 Sheila Mabbitt (Tennessee)

Sheila Mabbitt is based in Nashville, TN at KBNA, Nashville International Airport.

I grew up in S. Carolina and took to the skies at age 20 though as a flight attendant for a major airline. I quickly nurtured a desire to learn to fly, but suppressed that dream for several years until finances and timing came together at a juncture that would certainly prove to change my life. Shortly after obtaining all my ratings, I began my adventures logging time as a pipeline patrol pilot, and soon thereafter had the good fortune of meeting a gentleman who needed a co-pilot for his cargo company. I immediately embarked on a journey that has taken me through aviation history.

I began flying DC-3s for him in 2003 and quickly fell in love, not just with the Gooney Bird, but with all WWII era airplanes, particularly those consisting of the tailwheel/radial engine combo and have had the opportunity to fly T-6s, Wacos, Stearmans, & Beech 18s, to name a few. I was typed in the DC-3 in 2004 and have logged more than 1,000 hrs in type. I have flown them all over the country experiencing the earth’s beauty from the open cockpit window 500′ AGL. My most rewarding trips thus far have been various humanitarian missions. I now fly a King Air 200 out of Nashville, but stay involved in the DC-3 community whenever possible.

Flying DC-3s has opened so many doors for me and allowed me to meet many other great aviators and aviatrixes, some of whom I’ve had the honor of being featured with in Sparky Barnes Sargent’s book entitled, “A Hunger for the Sky” seen here: http://home.windstream.net/av8terz/book.html .