Stevie, it's great to see
you and thank you for joining us.
Can you share a little bit about what
inspired your interest
in aviation and also,
did you have a mentor who inspired you
when you were learning how to fly?
Absolutely thank you
for having me first of all.
And my story is definitely
not your conventional story these days.
I don't think of how I got into aviation,
but every story is unique,
so here's mine.
I as a kid, really had.
I have no family history
in aviation, didn't know
anybody who was a pilot,
and I also really had no exposure
to aviation at all.
I was actually afraid of flying as a kid
because I had ear issues
that made a very painful
when I was very young.
So for years I refused
to even go on an airplane,
so I was not anywhere near
by airplanes, airports, pilots.
Anything like that?
Then one day in high school
I think it was my
sophomore or junior year.
I was scrolling around on Instagram
like a girl in sophomore or junior
year of high school would do
and I was on my Instagram explore page
and I saw a picture of a friend
of a friend of a friend
posing with a small airplane.
I think it was a Cirrus looking back
and I think I did
a double take because one
I did not realize that
small planes existed at all.
I don't know how
I thought pilots trained, but
it definitely was not like that
and I also had no idea
that you could just.
Go up and fly for fun.
I thought pilots trained to do a job
and that was it
and I really didn't even know that much
about that side of things either,
so that really stuck with me.
That picture and I ended up
scrolling through this guys
page a little bit more and just
seeing all of his adventures
that he had gone on in this airplane
around the same time
I had to start going on
commercial flights for college visits
and school trips.
And every time I was on an airplane
I would look out
the window and think, wow,
I wish I was the one flying
so I was pretty dead
set on going to engineering school.
So I ended up going
to University of Michigan.
For computer science engineering,
but that thought of flying
was always in the back of my head.
Just flying for fun.
I never really considered it as a career
until I have started,
but it was always in the back of my head.
Is something maybe?
I would do one summer or
just during school and one summer
I was fortunate enough
to get an internship
in the Ann Arbor area.
So I had the money to go ahead
and do my private flight training.
So I Googled Ann Arbor flight schools.
I pick the one with the best website
and I texted my mom
that I was going to go on a flight lesson
and she said be safe.
And the rest is history.
Well, that's great.
You know that we actually share
a common background in some ways,
so I was an engineering student as well
and of course flying has been
a part of my being for decades now.
And I think that you know
one of the things that's really cool
is to be able to have a career
that involves doing something
that you really enjoy.
That's a passion for you personally.
What does flying actually mean to you?
So flying is 2 main things to me.
I think one, it is just an opportunity
to always be learning.
I did all of my ratings quite quickly.
I went zero to CFI in about 2 years.
So I started flying in June of 2018
and I got my CFI in January of 2020
right before coronavirus.
But you know, you're learning
never stops.
There are endless opportunities
to try new things
and do new things in aviation,
and I think that's what makes it so
exciting is I'm,
you know, I'm thinking
about getting my multi engine
here in a few months.
I've always dreamed of doing my seaplane
flying multi engine seaplanes.
Trying, you know
different careers in aviation
and you can really learn
something from every single flight
that you go on, which
I think is so incredible.
There's not many fields where that exists
like that in that nature.
And the other thing
that is so important to me about
aviation is the community.
I have not found anywhere
another community
that is just so supportive
and large really,
and just shares such
a strong passion
for one thing, as the aviation community,
everybody that I have met.
I mean, I've met like
my best friends through aviation.
I've met so many mentors
and people who just
everybody wants to see you succeed,
which I think is really special.
Oh that's great.
Yeah, lifelong learning
and the ability to be
part of that community, I think
is really, really
cool thing about flying.
What?
What advice do you have for
anyone who wants
to get involved in aviation,
especially young women?
Right, so I think the hardest thing
is definitely getting started.
For anybody, it's
getting past that hurdle
that's standing in your way in my case,
and I think for many
young women out there
that hurdle is really not
knowing about aviation at all.
I never had like a hatred for,
you know, the job of aviation.
I never was told.
No you can't do this.
I just simply didn't know about it.
And so in terms of like getting more
women interested in aviation,
I think that's the biggest hurdle
that stands in our way is actually
like exposing them
at a young age to this industry.
Another thing that I would say
especially coming from a background
of no family history.
Don't be intimidated
if you show up on the first day
and everything sounds like a
different language to you.
I remember vividly.
Asking my flight instructor
what CFI stood for on
probably the 3rd or 4th lesson
and I really had no idea for everybody
and especially for women.
Hold your head high.
Don't let people walk on you.
Don't let people tell you that
because you don't know
everything on the first day.
You're not going to succeed
and just be strong
and be proud of yourself
because you did the hardest step
and that is starting. In aviation.
you do get a lot of like bold people
who see all of you know
the pop culture in the movies
of you know pilots,
and they're usually all men.
So I think people are a little bit
more bold to say.
You can't do this because you're a girl
and you just have to hold your head high
and challenge them and say yes, I can.
Absolutely no.
I think that's great great advice.
It can be intimidating
because there's no shortage of acronyms
and initials for
just about everything in aviation
and you just have to
cut through that and.
You know, come in, come into it
as you said with confidence
and there are no stupid questions.
You know you've got.
You've got to be able
to ask those questions, and
I think that I've found over the years.
If you approach it from a
learning standpoint,
that your instructors
and everything really
want to import, impart
that knowledge to you
in the interest of jargon
and nomenclature.
N5921C means something to you
and so I just wanted to ask you
about what kind of airplane you fly
and do you have a favorite airplane?
My current airplane that I fly
and also my favorite airplane.
I may be a little bit biased
though is my 1952
C 35 Bonanza N5921C
commonly known as a V tail Bonanza
mine is definitely on the older side
It is a C model so they started
with just straight 35 and then ABC.
All the way through S, P, and V
at the end, so it is.
It's over three times
my age and it's it's
definitely got its little vintage
nuances and quirks, but
it is my favorite thing to fly.
It's just an all around
great cross country machine
and it's perfect for short hops to,
you know, go to breakfast
with my friends or on
longer trips as well and I'm
looking forward to
taking it to some clients
this summer as well.
So that's great.
No, it's a.
It is a great airplane
and very distinctive.
You know with that V tail.
Out there, everybody knows
what a Bonanza looks like,
so that's great.
Can you share with us
a story about a share?
A story with us about it?
A safety challenge
that you were able to overcome
thanks to your training
and skills, decision making, or
you know any challenges
with weather, fuel.
Anything like that here?
So I'm I've never been in like a true
real like emergency situation
or even like anything borderline,
you know close to that.
Partly, I think because of luck,
and partly because of my own
personal minimums
and training and maintenance.
Standards and so on and so forth.
But I do use my training on
every single flight that I go on.
You have to and so rather than a story,
I think I'd rather share something
that I deal with on every single flight,
particularly the long ones.
That is very specific to my airplane
and that is fuel management,
so I, as I mentioned in all of my
training in 152s and 172s,
where the fuel system is relatively basic
and then I stepped up to
this airplane, the bonanza
where the fuel system
is actually quite complicated.
And it's complicated
for a number of reasons.
When I transitioned to this airplane
I did the bonanza
training the be Triple P,
training through
the American Bonanza Society
and one of the things they emphasize on
is fuel management
and they actually
this is actually a little outdated.
They just redid this training
like I think a month ago
so the statistics are from the 90s,
but one of the statistics they throw out
is that 91% of engine
failures in Bonanzas
reported engine failures and finances
are due to fuel issues, namely
fuel starvation, so exhaustion.
Is where you run out of fuel completely.
Starvation is where you
run out of fuel in one tank,
but you still have fuel on board.
You just didn't know it.
And this is a big issue with Bonanzas
because of just how complicated
the fuel system is.
So for example Cessna 172,
you can put the fuel
selector on both tanks
an you can view the fuel level
in both of those tanks simultaneously.
There's two fuel gauges
you can switch between the left
and the right, but
you have the option to just sit on both
and the fuel tanks are both
at the same time, like distance on there
at the same like CG point
so you don't have to worry about the CG
shifting when you
use the fuel back and forth.
The bonanza on the other hand,
there's a wide variety
of different fuel configurations,
but mine has three tanks,
so I have two tanks, one in each wing,
and then one in the back
in the baggage compartment.
So the first nuance here
is that there is not a both option.
You have to switch between left, aux,
or right, which exists in Pipers.
It's not unheard of, manageable.
The second thing is that
there's only one fuel gauge,
and you have to toggle which fuel tank
you're actually viewing the level for
so this can cause confusion
if you think you're viewing, you know
the level in the left tank,
but you're really viewing
the fuel level in the aux tank.
So you could accidentally run
that left hand drive
and other nuances that the AUX tank is.
Again like I mentioned
in the back of the plane.
So if you don't burn
the fuel in the correct order
you could end up with a very
aft CG in flight.
Take off just fine
or you know you have to be careful
to not put too much
fuel in there to begin with,
but if you burn the fuel
in the incorrect order you could end up
with a lot of fuel in your back tank.
Not alot alot and
like your left and right wings
and you could land with an aft
CG which is not ideal.
And the last and most
complicated thing about this fuel system,
I think, is that.
That doesn't like
transfer uniformly
between the three tanks.
So for example, let's say I'm in cruise.
I'm at 23 inches
manifold pressure, 2300 RPM.
I'm burning probably 12 gallons
an hour out of my left tank.
If I switch to my right tank or my aux
tank, I'm still burning
12 gallons an hour,
but there's about 2 to 3 gallons an hour
that are transferred
back into the left tank.
So if you don't account for that,
not only could you overfill
the left tank on accident
if you don't burn up fast enough
space out of the left tank,
but you could run
out of fuel in your aux tank
For example,
if you're not accounting for that
extra 2 to 3 gallons.
So whenever I go
fly, whether it's a short flight,
a long flight flight by myself
with friends in the back,
you have to be accounting
for all of these things
I have to in advance.
Plan out when I'm going to switch tanks.
The strategy I'm going to use
so that I don't go out of my CG limits,
and then I have to write down times
that I switch and keep
track of where my fuel is
at any given time
in case of an emergency.
So really, it's quite complicated
and I think stepping up from a
like a very basic aircraft it can be.
Hazardous and it's something
that you have to
consciously pay attention to.
Absolutely no. You gotta have a plan.
Gotta plan and that's always going to happen
And there's a potential
to be distracted.
So you gotta come back to that plan
and make sure that you take the action
at the appropriate time.
And just for our viewers,
here CG is center of gravity.
You know that's another one of those
kind of abbreviations
that we use in aviation,
but it's very important
for the handling
qualities of the aircraft
to make sure that your CG.
Stays within within limits.
So Stevie finally,
as with the country in the world,
has gone through.
The pandemic.
There have been impacts on aviation.
What has the last year of flying
during the pandemic taught you?
So I mentioned this
a couple of times before, but I did
all of my training quite fast,
so from June 2018 to coronavirus
I was flying upwards of 200 hours a year
and I was flying quite often
like at least once a week, usually
a couple times a week for multiple hours.
Then when the pandemic hit
my flying club shut down
and I didn't yet have my airplane
so I had no way to fly.
Like many people across the country.
And on every checkride that I've gone
on, I've been asked about the difference
between currency and proficiency
and how important that difference is,
and the pandemic definitely taught me
why we go over that
and why it's important.
There is no way that I
would have hopped in a plane
after two months of
not flying by myself
without an instructor, and
I think it's extremely important
to set personal minimums,
not just for whether or not
just for things like that.
For how long you can go without flying
before you will hop on
a plane by yourself and feel safe.
So I think being forced.
And to not flying taught me
how important currency
versus proficiency is.
And honestly, how scary it is
that there are people
that will hop in an airplane
after not flying for that long
because I felt super uneasy
at the thought of doing that myself so.
No, you know you can't take these things
for granted absolutely,
so I mean, that's great,
great perspective,
and it's really impressive that you have.
You've been, you've had the awareness
to be able to understand
the distinction here.
You know this early in your
in your flying experience so well.
Thank you for joining us.
We look forward to seeing
your continued success.
Congratulations on
all of your accomplishments
up to this point.
Getting for your
commercial and an and CFI.
And you know, having your your airplane
and all the experiences
that you've already had,
even within your first few years,
is extremely impressive, so.
You know, I'll certainly
be watching your progress
and look forward to hopefully seeing you
at an industry event here
sooner rather than later.
Thank you very much
and thank you so much for having me.
This was great.
I'm so excited that I got to do this so.
Thank you for being with us.