In this episode of Chicks Who Fly, I get to have a conversation with Memphis-based retired FedEx Captain, Patricia Kessler.

Patricia was first exposed to aviation when she married a man who had always wanted to take flying lessons and she sat in the back seat during a lesson. That sparked her love for flying. Patricia soon got a job w the Dept of Defense, joined the Army Reserves and applied to a reserve squadron at McGuire Air Force base and joined a military flying club near Philadelphia where she began her pilot training. After her time in the military, Patricia flew for People Express Airlines, and when they were bought out by Continental Airlines, she moved on to Fed Ex, where she would become a Captain and stay for 25 years.

This lady has flown all over the world and we get to talk old-school flying stories, challenging approaches, challenging aircraft, favorite places she’s seen in the world, cool airports, flying unusual cargo, insane airline policies that they could never get away with in this day and age, how she landed the job at FedEx and so so many great, fun, surprising and entertaining stories of flying and life. Don’t miss this interview with this awesome lady!

In this 16th episode of Chicks Who Fly, I get to have a conversation with Pilot Annie, a Private Pilot out of Collingwood, Ontario working toward her Commercial License. She volunteers for many different organizations and also writes as a columnist and feature writer for COPA and Wings Magazine. She is on the Board of Directors for The Northern Lights Aero Foundation and a proud First Canadian Chapter Ninety-Nine.

In today’s conversation, we talk about the detours and scenic routes taken in her pilot training despite falling in love with aviation early on. We talk about online ground school training versus in-person ground school, the differences in training in Canada versus the US, the challenges and highlights of flight training, her love of adventure flying and bush flying, being in a relationship with another pilot and much more.

Aubrey Warrick is ATP Rated on the Falcon 10, 50 and 900, Lear Jet and SIngle pilot-rated on the Citation 500 series Jets. She is also the founder of CollectingCopilots.com, a platform for your aviation, travel and lifestyle needs. Aubrey is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelors in Aviation Flight Technology and currently Manages and flies for her Part 91 company, AubreyAire out of East Texas.

In today’s conversation, Aubrey and I get to talk about her passionate love story with aviation. From the moment she fell in love with flying as a young child, in a family where no one else is a pilot, to the emergency landing in Longview, Texas that started a whole new life for her in aviation and in love, and where she remains 9 years later.

Aubrey is charming, tenacious, badass and smart. She generously shares her knowledge and support with others, especially, women in aviation. These qualities are what make this conversation so inspiring and motivating to me.

In today’s 14th episode of Chicks Who Fly, I get to have a conversation with Sammi McQ. Sammi is a Private Pilot with an Instrument Rating, who started flying while she was in high school, shortly after her dad accidentally purchased an airplane. Sammi is currently working on her Commercial Certificate.

In this conversation, Sammi and I discuss the challenges she faced during her instrument training, the impact of an incompatible flight instructor on her training process, the cool way she learned to always hit her wake when performing steep turns, her aviation bucket list and taking the FAA written exam in the midst of pandemic-related closures. We compare her experience at a Part 61 vs Part 141 flight school and Sammi also shares her experience volunteering at an event where little girls were being taken up for their their first flight.

I have a chat with pilot, hair stylist, salon owner and host of the Cockpits and Cocktails podcast, Allyssa VanMeter, a.k.a. Fly Allyssa.

Allyssa was bit by the aviation bug when she took a helicopter tour of Hawaii during a vacation there. Alyssa is currently using her COVID-19 quarantine time to study for her instrument rating. In our conversation, we address the challenges of flight training, the extraordinary pride she felt when she passed her check ride, the surprising perspective that aviation gives her in flight and in life, personal minimums, time management, the wonderful aviation community, finding opportunities in unexpected setbacks and the importance of priorities. Allyssa also shares some of her aviation story and anecdotes, including that one time she stayed overnight in the FBO.

LA 99s member, Civil Air Patrol member and Private Pilot with a complex rating, Kate Scott and I get to discuss how a breakup propelled her into taking on flight training, the ups and downs of flight training, dealing with impostor syndrome, how her solo cross-country flight helped her confidence as a pilot, flying for Civil Air Patrol, juggling work and flight training, joining a flying club, the importance of talking through the maneuvers and procedures you are performing during lessons and check rides, preparing for FAA written exams, the challenges of radio communications, and standing for the diversification and expansion of the aviation community.

In this 10th episode of Chicks Who Fly, I get to have a conversation with Emmy Award-winning journalist, KTLA reporter and private pilot, Christina Pascucci. We talk about how she learned to fly in order to overcome her paralyzing fear of flying in small planes, We talk about how she learned to fly in Palm Springs and documented her flight training and her first solo for a TV show. We talk about the news story Christina got to do where she was able to grant the wish of a 99-year-old WASP who wanted to fly once more. We talk about dealing with self-doubt, the time that Christina lost comms in her aircraft during a flight, and about the power that comes with taking on challenges in the service of something bigger than just yourself, how Christina is inspired by the idea of empowering women to face their fears and challenges head on, flying to OshKosh, how aviation can serve the community and the confidence that comes with flight training and getting your pilot certificate among other things.

In today’s Episode, Kristyn and I talk about what it was like to do her flight training as a teenager on a military base, survival training in the freezing cold and snow in Canada, about the challenging twists and turns that had Kristyn step away from aviation for years while she built a successful and rewarding business that allowed her to get herself and her children in a good situation where she was able to become an aircraft owner, get back in aviation, build her hours and get ready for what’s next in her aviation journey, which will soon include an aircraft ferrying service. Kristyn is all about inspiring and empowering women and girls in pursuing and achieving whatever they want in their aviation careers.

In this 4th episode of the Chicks Who Fly Podcast, I get to speak with Jesse Hutchison. Jesse is a student pilot based in Phoenix, Arizona. In this episode we get to talk about the highs and lows of our flight training paths and the difficulties experienced when Jesse hit a snag in the process of getting her FAA 1st Class Medical Certificate. We get to share about our favorite flight training stories, aviation films, YouTube channels and podcasts and we talk about how we both manage to keep moving forward in our training when we hit some bumpy air along the way.

Chicks Who Fly-Episode 1 with your host Inaia, a student pilot interviewing CFI, CFII, commercial, multi-engine pilot Alejandra Newport, who is currently based in Las Vegas. Music, footage and back-seat passenger shenanigans by Diego Jinkus.