AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 75

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Back on the ground, the Pilon I met that morning
is back. She's both weary and wired. She snaps at
Bender, Garvin, and pilot Stefan Trischuk, to stop
chatting and join her on the flight line for meet
and greets, photo ops, and handing out publicity
cards. She smartly waves Breton to join them:
" You're with us this weekend, right? "
But waiting along the fence line are a group
of people who make Pilon soften. It's her
mother and father, brother, aunts, an uncle, and
her boyfriend. Her mother tells me I am not to
print this, but says her daughter may have been
difficult as a schoolgirl. You did not hear that
from me. The affection of the family is palpable.
This is their pride and joy, this crazy girl who
flies at convention and hangs upside down from
aircraft. Her parents ran the neighborhood
grocery store for more than 30 years in the town
she grew up in. They've sold it and are enjoying
a much-deserved retirement.
Pilon creates
artwork from
aircraft parts
(left); with her
biggest fans,
her parents and
family (right);
pilot Stefan
Trischuk joins
Pilon with fans
(below).
In her downtime she's found an interesting
way to relax yet make a side hustle: She creates
artwork from broken and spare pieces of the
aircraft. Using barnboard as the canvas ( " I am,
after all, a 'barnstormer,' " she quips), she creates
mixed media artwork, sometimes as paintings,
others as sculptures. When her father asked
how much she made from her first sale of three
pieces, he told her to " go out and take that
airplane apart and make more. "
Pilon thrives in pressure situations when she
needs to deliver. " I like it when you put it heavily
on my shoulders, " Pilon says. " That's when
I kind of shine and that's where I go to find the
freedom. When you do it successfully it's the best
feeling in the world. " julie.walker@aopa.org
" I've kept in shape by working eight to 10
hours a day in my parents' store, lifting pallets
and unpacking boxes and putting things on
shelves. It was a physical job that I did when
I wasn't wing walking. I'm not doing anything
now; I may have to actually join a gym, " she says.
It seems the airshow circuit is like most
intense things-lots of waiting punctuated by
moments of exhilaration and terror. Pilon takes
apart the Stearman after each airshow and trucks
it in pieces behind her notoriously fickle pickup
truck. She says she barely breaks even and now
sees the way to continue to make her mark in
the industry is to make strides to increase airshow
pay. " We are all competing for the airshow
budget, " she says.
AOPA PILOT / January 2024
75

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - Intro
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - Cover1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - Cover2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 5
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 6
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 7
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 8
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 9
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 10
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 11
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 12
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 13
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 14
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 15
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 16
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 17
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 18
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 19
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 20
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 21
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 22
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 23
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 24
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 25
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 26
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 27
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 28
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 29
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 30
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 31
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 32
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 33
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 34
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 35
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 36
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 37
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 38
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 39
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 40
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 41
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 42
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 43
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 44
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 45
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 46
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 47
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 48
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - R1
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - R2
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - R3
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - R4
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 49
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 50
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 51
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 52
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 53
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 54
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 55
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 56
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 57
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 58
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 59
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 60
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 61
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 62
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 63
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 64
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 65
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 66
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 67
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 68
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 69
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 70
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 71
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 72
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 73
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 74
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 75
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 76
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 77
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 78
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 79
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 80
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 81
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 82
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 83
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 84
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 85
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 86
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 87
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 88
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 89
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 90
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 91
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 92
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 93
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 94
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 95
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 96
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 97
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 98
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 99
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 100
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 101
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 102
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 103
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 105
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 110
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 111
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 112
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - 113
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2024 - Cover4
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