I fell in love with flying when I took my first flight in 1979 at age 4 to visit my Grandma in Salt Lake City. Recently my Mom sent me a picture of that day. I keep it in my office to remind me of what's important and to motivate me. I remember whenever my family would go on a vacation I couldn't wait for it to be over so I could enjoy the airplane trip back.
I went to school in Mankato, Minnesota to be an airline pilot only to find out my family could not afford the training, on top of the college tuition, so I dropped out.
17 years later my then boyfriend (now husband) Oscar gave me an introductory flight to Santa Monica Flyers as a Christmas present. My aviation career literally took off from that point. I made him go with me to the airport the next day (on Christmas) to watch airplanes. I finished my accounting degree that spring semester then buckled down to finish my Sport Pilot Certificate the end of 2014. I upgraded to Private Pilot the next year along with many pleasure flights with friends in Sportcruisers.
In 2016 I got to know Charlie, the owner of SMF, and he asked me to manage the school. 9 months later I had also become a Sport Flight Instructor. In 2018 I earned my Instrument Rating. In 2019 my Commercial Pilot and in 2020 my CFI-Airplane, Multi-Engine Pilot, CFII, MEI. Having been lucky enough to have >10 students pass their checkride on their first try, I also earned my Gold Seal CFI.
I hope to fly for the airlines one day but until then I really enjoy teaching students how to fly and pilots how to fly in the clouds. I also love managing the school and my favorite part of that is meeting all the new student pilot and seeing them solo and pass their checkrides.<br>I look forward to meeting you!