Coast Guard Helicopter Pilot Turned Writer, Liz Booker, @literaryaviatrix
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In today’s episode of Chicks Who Fly, I get to have a conversation with Liz Booker, Retired Coast Guard Helicopter pilot, now a writer, working on two books for young adults that feature young women learning to fly. Liz runs the Aviatrix Book Club, where people get together and discuss books they read that feature women in aviation. Liz also interviews the authors of some of her chosen books and releases those interviews on her Aviatrix Book Review Podcast. Additionally, Liz runs a club called Aviatrix Writer’s Group, where authors and aspiring authors support each other in their projects.
Inspired by the space program, Liz knew she wanted to be a pilot since she was 5 yrs old. Liz had her first flight lessons in a turboprop while training with the Coast Guard in Pensacola and moved on to helicopters, where she had to hover the helicopter on her 4th lesson! Military flight training also meant that she was taught spin recovery and aerobatics very early on in training. From boot camp, doing dirty jobs to learning to fly in a turboprop, then helicopters, the Coast Guard was quite a ride. Liz and I talk about the challenge that memorization posed for her while doing her flight training in the military, all while having her first child. We talk about the day she got to do a low pass over the runway at the airport at NASA’s facility in Cape Canaveral, we discuss the crazy drills she had to do in airplanes, helicopters and underwater. We discuss seasickness vs air sickness and some of her missions with the coast guard, which included landing on the back of ships, rescuing people from sinking ships, searching for lost divers and even rescuing a stranded surfer in the middle of the night.
Connect with @literaryaviatrix
Theme music by Diego Jinkus.
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