Mom, you should fly too: Stephanie Gehman on her pilot journey

If you had asked me five years ago if I had thought I would be flight training at any point in my life, my answer would likely have been a hesitant ‘maybe’. At that point, I was a mom of two very young sons, and the combination of juggling their schedules and needs — along with that of being a work-from-home professional — did not allow much extra calendar allocation for pursuing any time-intensive hobbies or interests of my own. Does that mean I didn’t still fit aviation-themed hobbies into some of my spare time when my boys were smaller? No! We have had many airshow visits, plane-spotting trips to our local airport, and aviation-museum adventures over the years! It is safe to say my boys are well-traveled and well-versed in matters of aviation.

As my sons are growing up and finding hobbies, interests and sports of their own liking, I have consistently encouraged them to pursue those with all the talent, enthusiasm and raw effort that they can muster. We have added tennis, basketball and archery to the list of extracurricular activities that fill our calendar outside of the time devoted to school hours and my work schedule. In the midst of all this activity and encouragement of their talent and interests, a little over a year ago, I found myself wondering if I should take my own advice!

I had wanted to pursue a private pilot license from the first time I had flown in the right seat of a Cessna 172. A former colleague of mine invited me to go flying with him one evening after work (long before I was a busy mom of two). While we were in flight, he looked at me and offered to let me take the yoke. I paused only for a millisecond before enthusiastically agreeing to the offer! I listened intently as he explained the basic principles of operation of the yoke, trim wheel, and rudders and before I knew it, our straight and level flying was under my control. How fun! After a few minutes of flying, he then asked me if I wanted to turn the Skyhawk to a different heading off to our right. Let me just say that my attempt to bank the 172 resulted in a nearly 40-degree bank and he promptly took back the yoke! It was an embarrassing gaffe that I can laugh about with my kids when I have retold them that story all these years later.

Although my first endeavor at flying was not my best performance to say the least, that feeling of flight stuck with me over the years. Fast forward about fourteen years later and that feeling reared its head at one of my son’s sports’ practices. I found myself contemplating the fact that I repeatedly encourage my children to pursue their interests; would it not make sense to take my own advice and lead from the front? And, sure enough it does. It makes perfect sense for my kids to see their mom doing exactly what she heartens them to do.

So, with that thought in mind, I checked in with a couple of friends of mine, who are a commercial pilot and certified flight instructor (CFI)), and a long-time private pilot. They both patiently let me pick their brains on the matters of ground school, personal equipment needs, books and study aids to purchase and read, training frequency and what to look for in a capable CFI, flight school and its fleet considerations and so much more. It is fair to say that I thoroughly did my due diligence on the subject.

Through the process of this research, my older son in particular was quite interested in what I was learning and continuously asked, ‘mom, when are you going to go for your first lesson?’ His keen interest in the process was a small, yet wonderful confirmation that kids are always watching what their parents are doing and that ‘you should practice what you preach’. And practice, I did. I booked a discovery flight with a flight school near my home, and invited the boys and their grandma to observe from the visitors’ lounge at the school.

It was an exhilarating experience to be back at the yoke in a new Cessna 172 with a G1000, and logging my first partial hour of flight time in my logbook. After tying down the Skyhawk, and returning to the lounge post flight, I was greeted by a pair of very excited kids. Their reaction to seeing me, their mom, take a step toward pursuing a long-term goal was frankly even better than the discovery flight itself!

Needless to say, that same afternoon I ordered my headset, flight bag, Sporty’s Ground School course, FAR/AIM, and other sundries, scheduled my medical, applied for my student pilot license and when all of those details fell into place, I booked my next flight lesson with the flight school. As is the flight path for many student pilots, I have switched CFIs and flight schools and have landed (pun intended) at a smaller flight school with a more purposeful flight instructor. Those changes were teachable moments with my kids too, illustrating to them that we do not have to let challenges, like a CFI quitting, set us back. We stay the course, because the flight path to success is not always as straight and level as we would hope.