Flight Training - March/April 2025 - 23

5 QUESTIONS
BY JULIE SUMMERS WALKER
ERIN MILLER
JUMPING IN WITH BOTH FEET
IN 2015, THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE
Army denied Women Airforce Service
Pilot Elaine Danforth Harmon's final
request to be buried at Arlington National
Cemetery. Harmon's granddaughter, Erin
Miller, launched a grassroots social media
and lobbying campaign to get the decision
reversed. Miller describes the successful
outcome in her book Final Flight Final
Fight: My Grandmother, the WASP, and
Arlington National Cemetery and wrote a
children's book What Grandma Did about
her grandmother. But Miller herself was
not a pilot until a chance conversation
with aerobatic pilot Patty Wagstaff that
prompted Miller to start flight training.
She's quickly amassed hours, ratings, and
experiences and is all-in aviation from
now on. Her grandmother would approve.
How did you get started in aviation?
I've always been interested in aviation and
space. I built model rockets and airplanes
when I was a kid. My dad was a helicopter
pilot in Vietnam for the Marine Corps
and my grandmother was a WASP pilot
during World War II. I ended up doing
many other things including graduating
from law school and becoming an attorney.
After my grandmother died and our
family learned that Arlington National
Cemetery refused to accept her based on
her service as a WASP, I came to the aviation
world through leading a campaign
to have a law passed to recognize their
service. I spent a lot of time at airshows
and aviation events to share the history
of the WASP program through talks
and my books. Through that, I met lots
of amazing people, many of whom are
pilots and enjoy sharing their airplanes
and flying with me. I was reluctant to
spend time and money on flight training
because I didn't envision myself becoming
a career pilot. I was talking to Patty
Wagstaff, and she encouraged me to try
flight training and explained that there
is value in the process of learning to fly
even if it doesn't become a career. After
that conversation, I went to the AME
[aviation medical examiner] and then
started flight training.
Your biggest challenges? The biggest
challenge for me is balancing time for
flight training with my job and aviation
events I do including talks about the
WASP, book events, and traveling to
airshows to narrate for Bob " Rooster "
Schmidle's performances (one of
my CFIs), and even announcing for
the airshow.
Favorite aircraft? I don't have a favorite
aircraft, but I think Corsairs are very cool.
Favorite aviation-related activity? Any
aviation activity where I get to spend time
with my aviation friends is my favorite
one; it can be an airshow or a conference
or flying trips with friends.
Advice for students? Aviation has
smaller communities within itself, and
finding your own community within that
larger industry can be very helpful for
friendship and support during training.
julie.walker@aopa.org
LOGBOOK
WHO: Erin Miller
HOURS: 300
RATINGS: " I got my private pilot
in April 2023 and am almost finished
with my instrument rating. I
plan to do commercial and CFI. "
FLIGHT TRAINING MARCH/APRIL 2025
23
DAVID TULIS
Flight Training - March/April 2025

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