Bette
Pilot
Hi, My name is Bette and although my father had worked at
Douglas Aircraft all my life, I never rode in an airplane until I
was in High School. My dad even took me out to the Long
Beach Harbor to see the first and only flight of Howard
Hughes's "Spruce Goose".
I married a jet pilot a few years after High School and flew with
him in small airplanes for 13 years, including learning how to
navigate, talk on the radio and fly the airplane in formation with
another, while he hung out the window taking photos for
aviation magazine covers.
When I was 32 I finally soloed in my very own 1946 Aeronca
Champ. Then my husband, flight instructor and father to my
six children suddenly was gone, along with my job of editing his
aviation writing. The airplane was the only thing I had, really,
and the kiddies wanted to fly, so I got my pilot's license in
1970. That little airplane saved my life!
Soon I was piloting a vintage (1942) open-cockpit biplane
around the country and learning that you didn't need a father,
brother or husband to tell you what to do and how to do it!
People started asking me to ferry antique airplanes here and
there, with a road map, no radios, batteries for lights, often
not even a starter, requiring someone to "give me a prop". My
children grew up at airports and a couple of them learned to fly
also, one girl and one boy, at least. My daughter had her own
airplane for awhile and my son is a Captain for American
Airlines. Another son learned so much about aviation by being
at airports and flying with me, that he worked on Microsoft's
Flight Simulator 2004 program.
Email Girls With Wings so you can get info on how to contact
your local 99 or EAA chapter if you want to go fly, or just go
touch and sit in an airplane.
Pilot
Hi, My name is Bette and although my father had worked at
Douglas Aircraft all my life, I never rode in an airplane until I
was in High School. My dad even took me out to the Long
Beach Harbor to see the first and only flight of Howard
Hughes's "Spruce Goose".
I married a jet pilot a few years after High School and flew with
him in small airplanes for 13 years, including learning how to
navigate, talk on the radio and fly the airplane in formation with
another, while he hung out the window taking photos for
aviation magazine covers.
When I was 32 I finally soloed in my very own 1946 Aeronca
Champ. Then my husband, flight instructor and father to my
six children suddenly was gone, along with my job of editing his
aviation writing. The airplane was the only thing I had, really,
and the kiddies wanted to fly, so I got my pilot's license in
1970. That little airplane saved my life!
Soon I was piloting a vintage (1942) open-cockpit biplane
around the country and learning that you didn't need a father,
brother or husband to tell you what to do and how to do it!
People started asking me to ferry antique airplanes here and
there, with a road map, no radios, batteries for lights, often
not even a starter, requiring someone to "give me a prop". My
children grew up at airports and a couple of them learned to fly
also, one girl and one boy, at least. My daughter had her own
airplane for awhile and my son is a Captain for American
Airlines. Another son learned so much about aviation by being
at airports and flying with me, that he worked on Microsoft's
Flight Simulator 2004 program.
Email Girls With Wings so you can get info on how to contact
your local 99 or EAA chapter if you want to go fly, or just go
touch and sit in an airplane.
But I have had a wonderful career as a part-time pilot, and full-time
editor, often of aviation subject matter. I have met many wonderful
people, including my present husband, who I met when I was running
a glider school in Vermont. I have flown modern aircraft in formation
for magazine covers. I have flown many types of aircraft, from
gliders to twin-engines. I have owned or co-owned 14 different
airplanes and in 2007 I will celebrate fifty years of flight. I still fly a
1946 Aeronca Champ, my third one, at least once a week. Today I
wonder what I would do with all the money I have spent at airports!!
I guess I know. I would live in a big house, instead of attached to a
big hangar!! But I probably wouldn't be happy.
Our EAA chapter has a Junior ROTC program where the high school
kids from all over Arizona are bussed down from their summer
encampment near Flagstaff, to us in central Arizona and we gather
10 to 14 airplanes and do the Young Eagle thing. We do from 150
to 200 in three mornings. More and more young girls are taking part
in ROTC, so we get a chance to give them the pitch about women in
the air.
editor, often of aviation subject matter. I have met many wonderful
people, including my present husband, who I met when I was running
a glider school in Vermont. I have flown modern aircraft in formation
for magazine covers. I have flown many types of aircraft, from
gliders to twin-engines. I have owned or co-owned 14 different
airplanes and in 2007 I will celebrate fifty years of flight. I still fly a
1946 Aeronca Champ, my third one, at least once a week. Today I
wonder what I would do with all the money I have spent at airports!!
I guess I know. I would live in a big house, instead of attached to a
big hangar!! But I probably wouldn't be happy.
Our EAA chapter has a Junior ROTC program where the high school
kids from all over Arizona are bussed down from their summer
encampment near Flagstaff, to us in central Arizona and we gather
10 to 14 airplanes and do the Young Eagle thing. We do from 150
to 200 in three mornings. More and more young girls are taking part
in ROTC, so we get a chance to give them the pitch about women in
the air.
TM
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