Fearless FlyGirl Heather Obernolte
I love this next story. It’s so much fun that a woman was required to become a pilot in order to be an eligible bride. Heather Obernolte found out from a friend that her boyfriend wasn’t going to propose to her until she learned to fly. She had to meet the challenge of impressing her future husband sufficiently enough to inspire the best kind of invitation, a lifetime partnership. A partnership that included a life in the skies.
She certainly is a Fearless FlyGirl since she had to overcome plenty of fears to accomplish this feat. Flying through the turbulent Banning pass to the Palm Springs airport took immense courage for this girl who hadn’t grown up thinking about flying. How did she do it? “I sang the song from The Sound of Music at the top of my lungs, ‘I have confidence in confidence alone…’ and the song comforted me.” For me, Top Gun’s Danger Zone gave me the push I needed to go to my flight lessons. Do you have a song that nudges you over the edge and helps you meet life’s challenges?
Obernolte pushed through all the typical anxieties and now flies a jet at nearly Mach speeds along with her husband and their sons. Not only is her husband proud of her, but we are too. What a great role model!
Fearless FlyGirl Ellyn Williams
FlyGirl Ellyn Williams didn’t want to be left out. She learned to fly after her husband did because she wanted to laugh at the jokes pilots told and understand conversations. She wanted to get the vocabulary. As a pilot now, not only does she get the aviation jokes, but she says her husband is proud of her.
“It is really something to be proud of,” Ellyn says. “Learning to fly is the 2nd hardest thing. Childbirth is the 1st.” Unlike her husband, she can say she’s done both, the two hardest things ever!
And even though there are many challenges, there are many rewards. While crosswinds aren’t her favorite, Ellyn finds joy in conditions that make others pale. “I like turbulence. Little planes bounce around a lot,” she says.
And sometimes the solution to a challenge is simply changing it up. Ellyn’s 1st instructor wasn’t a good match for her. “I’m in the air with a twenty-three year old and I swear his mother doesn’t know I’m gonna kill him,” Ellyn jokes. She switched to a middle-aged female instructor and found the connection she needed. “She really got my confidence up.”
Whatever the reason you take on learning to fly, it’s going to expand your horizons into a whole new world. In this ongoing blog, I will continue to add Fearless FlyGirls. Coming up next: a FlyGirl who had to overcome her fear of flying in order to get married. Her future husband had one requirement of her before he would marry her: Become a pilot. (Above)
Cool!
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