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I did the thing. Finally. Today, after 11 years of obsessively saving money, 9 instructors, 5 plane swaps, 4 rescheduled checkrides, 2 sexual harassment reports, and 1 plane trying to kill me with carbon monoxide... IM FINALLY A LICENSED PILOT #aviatrix
(moral of the story. When you finally save up the $$, spend the extra $10/hr for a flight school that isn& #39;t sketchy as all hell, can retain instructors for more than a month, and has CO detectors in the aircraft)
I& #39;ve known I wanted to fly for as long as I can remember. As a kid I was obsessed with birds and understanding how wings worked. At some point an adult in my life must have pointed out planes were a thing. Eventually I went to a @EAA Young Eagles event, where kids get to fly free
Got my first job scrubbing tables and bathrooms at a Chinese restaurant at 13. Obvi under the table, less than minimum wage, bleach and no gloves. By 16 I had 3 formal (&legal!) part time jobs, plus I started a tutoring side hustle and a gardening business that made BANK
Eventually I got a summer job as a ramp rat at an airport 1.5 hours from home. 20 hours of line crew for each flight lesson (1hour). I did 60hrs/week while maintaining 2 of the part time paid jobs. It was the summer I turned 17. I made it my goal to solo by the end of the year
I soloed on New Years Eve of that year because even though I work really hard I& #39;m still a massive procrastinator 
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My CFI/boss/FBO owner at that job was amazing. Only guy in the area who would hire a teenage girl to be a ramp rat. AND teach her to fly.
My CFI/boss/FBO owner at that job was amazing. Only guy in the area who would hire a teenage girl to be a ramp rat. AND teach her to fly.
My CFI/boss/FBO owner at that job was amazing. Only guy in the area who would hire a teenage girl to be a ramp rat. AND teach her to fly." title="I soloed on New Years Eve of that year because even though I work really hard I& #39;m still a massive procrastinator https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="đ" title="Gesicht mit FreudentrĂ€nen" aria-label="Emoji: Gesicht mit FreudentrĂ€nen">My CFI/boss/FBO owner at that job was amazing. Only guy in the area who would hire a teenage girl to be a ramp rat. AND teach her to fly." class="img-responsive" style="max-width:100%;"/>
He was awesome, but there were some SKETCHY (&disgusting) and generally sexist characters at that airport that he could not protect me from and of which I& #39;ll save you the deets. I& #39;ll just say, nothing prepares you for a degree in a male dominated field like working in aviation.
(but honestly it& #39;s way better. It& #39;s easier to shrug off "no fucking way a chick is touching my airplane" as sexism than it is to shrug off all the microaggressions in engineering)
Anyway I went off to college and didn& #39;t fly for 5 years & also burned through most of my pilot fund
Anyway I went off to college and didn& #39;t fly for 5 years & also burned through most of my pilot fund
But I got super lucky. That entrepreneurship thing I learned working on my pilot fund kicked in and I started a tech company which was cause for me to star in an international @Microsoft @surface commercial which rescued my financial situation. https://vimeo.com/228124212 ">https://vimeo.com/228124212...
Anyway last year I became an @IfThenSheCan ambassador and decided to set aside my fellowship $ to use as my flying money. I& #39;m finishing overbudget and 3 months late (read that first tweet about my garbage flight school) and pretty burned out, but here& #39;s my first flight as a PPL!
Not sure where I& #39;m going with this. I& #39;ve literally spent the majority of my life working towards this one goal. I used to beat myself up over it taking so long but honestly, everyone& #39;s path, privilege, and situation is different. I& #39;m SO fortunate to have had these opportunities.
I guess I& #39;m sayin& #39; don& #39;t be afraid to haul ass for things. But more importantly it didn& #39;t take you too long, you did it in the way you had to do it. And if I& #39;ve learned anything it& #39;s to not compare your journey to others who had different obstacles than you. Blue skies everyone!
