AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - April 2021 - 39

of time away from the left seat. But at the
end of the flight he said I did pretty good,
so that really made me think flying again
was possible.
If I was going to fly again I decided that
I had to go the glass route. Glad I did, even
if at first I made liberal use of the " Direct
To " button on the Garmin G1000. The flight
school instructor recommended that I just
have maintenance hook up external power
to the airplane to gain familiarity with the
G1000. That helped a lot.
The third major challenge was the FAA
regs. When I first started going through
the regs with an instructor it was overwhelming, and I thought maybe flying
wasn't in my future. But rather than look
at the overwhelming task, I just broke it up
into smaller chunks and tackled one after
another, day in and day out.
Another interesting fact, although not
really a challenge, was that in obtaining new

ratings I wasn't the typical student who had
quickly come up through the ranks. My first
effort at MEL was with ATP Flight School
and I was assigned a very young instructor. The flying portion was fine but all the
ground school knowledge, that a young
student would have recently learned,
wasn't in my brain. Not knowing any better he assumed that I was like the rest of the
young students. I finished up the MEL with
an older instructor at another flight school
and he understood the situation and made
it all work. It was so much easier.
Once back in the flying game, I wasn't
content to just fly but wanted to upgrade my
skills. That led to a tailwheel endorsement,
seaplane rating, aerobatic training, and now,
a focus on the next challenges including formation flying and aerobatic competition. The
172 was upgraded to renting a Cessna 182 and
then, of course, I had to look at purchasing
my own airplane. Since I had many hours in

AVIATION HISTORY |

PAT O'BRIEN is a 2,600-plus-hour pilot who

owns a Colombia 400 and Van's RV-8.

TOP TO BOTTOM:

Bessie Coleman, Jeanne
Labrosse, Baroness
Raymonde de la Roche,
Adrienne Bolland, Louise
Thaden.

100 YEARS AGO

APRIL 1, 1921
Women fly

French pilot Adrienne Bolland
takes off from Mendoza,
Argentina, in a Caudron biplane
to become the first woman to fly
over the Andes. She completes the
historic Andean crossing to the
Chilean capital, Santiago, in four
hours. Women have been making
their mark in aviation as far back
as 1798 when Jeanne Labrosse
soloed a hot air balloon. Great
accomplishments have included
(and are not limited to) Baroness
Raymonde de la Roche, the first
woman to earn a pilot's license
(1910); Harriet Quimby, the first
American woman to earn a pilot's
license (1911) and fly over the
English Channel (1912); Marjorie
Stinson, the first female airmail
pilot (1915); Bessie Coleman, the
first African American woman to

a Mooney M20J, I looked at that airplane as
well as Bonanza, Cirrus, and Columbia models. Found a gem of a 2008 Cessna Columbia
400 and have accumulated nearly 1,000
hours. I also recently purchased an RV-8
for formation training and light aerobatics.
So, I jumped back into the aviation
game in my 60s. Had the chance occurrence to talk with an aviation buff I met
at the Reno Air Races. He was over 60 and
always wanted to fly. I relayed my story
and encouraged him to give it a shot. I sure
hope he did!
My life changed totally after returning to aviation. So, if you haven't flown in
a while, at least consider giving it a try. I
think you will enjoy the challenge and fun
that taking to the skies can bring to those
who have " slipped the surly bonds of Earth. "

earn a pilot's license (1921); Amelia
Earhart, the first woman to fly
solo across the Atlantic (1932);
Jackie Cochran, the first woman
to break the sound barrier (1953);
Louise Thaden, the first woman
to win the Bendix Trophy (1936);
the first women to pilot U.S.
military aircraft (the Women
Airforce Service Pilots during
World War II); Jerrie Mock, the
first woman to fly solo around the
globe in a single-engine airplane
(1964); Emily Howell Warner,
the first female U.S. airline captain (1976); Lynn Rippelmeyer,
the first woman to pilot a Boeing
747 (1980). The WASP were finally
recognized by the U.S. government for their service with the
Congressional Gold Medal in 2012.
You've come a long way, baby.
aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 39
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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - April 2021

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