YOU'RE THE PILOT!??

Being a younger-looking, petite pilot sometimes throws people off.  I get that a lot.  I've only had one passenger fail to fly with me because he felt I wasn't strong enough to "pull him from the wreckage if we crashed".  Seriously, I really don't plan on crashing.  This is a sample of what it's been like over the last 14 years of my piloting career.  

I've been involved in pageants even longer than piloting and no one seems to question the validity of me being a contestant, hmmm.  I think it takes more guts to get on stage and bare your soul to an audience than to navigate a light aircraft through the mountains of Alaska.  I also think you've got to be even stronger to wear high heels and dance in a cocktail dress than to chuck freight in and out of an airplane in remote villages.  Here's to all of the contestants who have taken the leap and stepped into the world of pageantry.  Hurray for all women who choose to be versitile and can get grubby and glamourous in the same day.

I was crowned Mrs. Alaska America one week ago and I feel like I've been given a new set of wings and told to "go have fun!"  Wheeeeee!  Here we go!