I'm slowly but surely learning my way about the world and becoming the woman I'm destined to be. I'm eclectic, I'm passionate, I'm a giver. I'm an always dreamin', airplane flyin', avid crocheter. I'm a girl who loves to be on a "mission" whether it's organizing a fundraiser or seeing how many turtles I can catch in the lake in a day. I don't like raisins, but love raisinets and yogurt covered raisins. I don't like purple grapes, but love the green ones. I hate blueberries except if they are in muffins. That about sums up the way my brain works.
I'm an instrument rated commercial pilot and work in customer service, sales and marketing for Aviation Insurance Resources. I am a co-host of the aviation podcast, the StuckMic AvCast. I am an active member of the Sugarloaf chapter of the Ninety-Nines, a VIP member of Women of Aviation Week and a member of Women in Aviation International and the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association. I also organize the Women Fly it Forward event in Frederick, MD.
It's been a roller coaster of ups and downs to get where I am today and there is still so much more room for me to grow and explore. I am proud to proclaim that I am a pilot and have overcome made obstacles to do so. Despite the seemingly long journey, I am thankful for every minute of it because it has made me the passionate aviatrix I am today.
My continuous goal in aviation is to always be learning and to be open to new experiences within the industry. My favorite moments in life have always been those where I get to share aviation with others and I look forward to doing so for many years to come.
I created this blog at first to keep family and friends updated about my life and flying progress, however, it has become much more than that. It has become a form a therapy and a networking tool for me. Here I will take you on the roller coaster that is my life when trying to obtain additional ratings, the flying adventures I share with my pilot fiance and the passengers we pick up along the way. Don't expect many eloquent posts and a typo always seems to slip through my careful eyes. Just expect pure enthusiasm and passion for aviation and for sharing it with others.
Thanks to everyone who has joined me (and put up with me) along this journey! Welcome and come back soon :o)
It's been a roller coaster of ups and downs to get where I am today and there is still so much more room for me to grow and explore. I am proud to proclaim that I am a pilot and have overcome made obstacles to do so. Despite the seemingly long journey, I am thankful for every minute of it because it has made me the passionate aviatrix I am today.
My continuous goal in aviation is to always be learning and to be open to new experiences within the industry. My favorite moments in life have always been those where I get to share aviation with others and I look forward to doing so for many years to come.
I created this blog at first to keep family and friends updated about my life and flying progress, however, it has become much more than that. It has become a form a therapy and a networking tool for me. Here I will take you on the roller coaster that is my life when trying to obtain additional ratings, the flying adventures I share with my pilot fiance and the passengers we pick up along the way. Don't expect many eloquent posts and a typo always seems to slip through my careful eyes. Just expect pure enthusiasm and passion for aviation and for sharing it with others.
Thanks to everyone who has joined me (and put up with me) along this journey! Welcome and come back soon :o)
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The
world’s first licensed female pilot, a French socialite named Raymonde
de Laroche, declared in 1910 that flying was ideal for women because
it didn’t rely on strength as much as on physical and mental
coordination.
Neuville
hopes to draw 300 women and girls to FDK, and she has put together a
slate of activities, including prize drawings and speakers such as an
air traffic controller, a wing walker, and a squadron from Andrews Air
Force Base. There are incentives for the pilots, too: Neuville
negotiated a 50-cent-per-gallon discount on aviation fuel from Landmark
Aviation, the local FBO. Everyone who takes an introductory flight
will be able to download a photo from a website to post on Facebook—and
Neuville is aiming to see hundreds of profile pictures of smiling
faces in airplanes.
Rally GA: Giving women wings
Putting out the welcome mat at the airport
The
world’s first licensed female pilot, a French socialite named Raymonde
de Laroche, declared in 1910 that flying was ideal for women because
it didn’t rely on strength as much as on physical and mental
coordination.
No doubt Laroche and the pioneering women
pilots who came after her hoped that others would follow their lead
and flood the ranks of aviation.
More than 100 years
later, it hasn’t happened. Here in the United States, women are in the
House and in the Senate, the boardrooms of major businesses, and in the
armed forces. And while they’re also at the airports, women represent a
paltry 6 percent of the pilot population. What’s more, the number of
women pilots has decreased in the last 15 years—keeping pace with the
general decline in the pilot population—in spite of the fact that the
number of women living in the United States increased by 30 percent
during the same period.
A grassroots effort launched in
2010 seeks to reverse that trend. Getting women to the airport and
introducing them to aviation was the goal of the 2010 Women Pilot
Centennial. By the end of the year, pilots around the world had carried
more than 1,600 girls and women aloft in celebration of the 100th
anniversary of Laroche’s achievement. The effort became a yearlong
competition to see which airport would be designated most “women
friendly.” The winner was Oshawa Airport in Ontario, Canada, where
pilots racked up 475 introductory flights. A close second was Renton
Municipal Airport in Renton, Washington, where 407 women and girls
received introductory flights—173 of which were conducted in a single
day.
International organizer Mireille Goyer had planned to
celebrate the centennial by introducing women and girls to flying in
France, the United States, and Canada. She broadened her approach to
invite pilots everywhere to take up the cause.
The
centennial has come and gone, but the goal continues in 2011. The week
of March 7 through 13 was designated Women of Aviation Week as a part
of the one-hundredth anniversary of International Women’s Day (March
8). Once again, pilots are urged to put out the welcome mat by
introducing girls and women to the world of flight.
There
were prizes and recognition for categories such as Most Unusual
Introductory Flight, Most Supportive Male Flight Instructor, and Most
Dedicated Female Pilot. Some museums and flight schools are offering
special programs. More details can be found at the website (www.womenofaviationweek.org),
which includes a detailed list of events planned in the United States,
Canada, France, Ghana, and the United Kingdom. AOPA is a sponsor,
along with Aircraft Spruce, SavvyGPS Pilot, and Windtee. Also on board
are the producers of documentaries Breaking Through the Clouds, which
tells the story of the 1929 Women’s Transcontinental Air Race, and
Flyabout, a pilot’s story of her aviation-oriented “walkabout” in
Australia.
A local spark lights a fire
The idea
of getting as many women into the air as possible sounded just right to
Victoria Neuville. Neuville learned about the Centennial of Women last
year but couldn’t get involved at the time. A relative newcomer to
Frederick, Maryland (she’s from Michigan), she has leapt into the local
pilot community by organizing an event for this year’s Women of
Aviation Week. Women Fly It Forward was scheduled for March 12 at Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK).
“I wanted to make sure that other girls weren’t afraid to start, or quit early from lack of support.”—Victoria Neuville
An
instrument-rated private pilot, Neuville encountered some challenges
while earning her certificate—she trained at three flight schools, with
eight instructors, and flew “a billion” airplanes.
“I
didn’t have much support when I was getting my ratings,” says Neuville.
Her father and grandfathers were pilots—her great uncle was a World
War II ace—and so she had plenty of role models, but not the emotional
support she wanted. “I knew a lot of guys but I did not meet a single
girl in my training. Girls need other girls for support. Since I had
none of that, I wanted to make sure that other girls weren’t afraid to
start, or quit early from lack of support.”
Neuville
hopes to draw 300 women and girls to FDK, and she has put together a
slate of activities, including prize drawings and speakers such as an
air traffic controller, a wing walker, and a squadron from Andrews Air
Force Base. There are incentives for the pilots, too: Neuville
negotiated a 50-cent-per-gallon discount on aviation fuel from Landmark
Aviation, the local FBO. Everyone who takes an introductory flight
will be able to download a photo from a website to post on Facebook—and
Neuville is aiming to see hundreds of profile pictures of smiling
faces in airplanes.
“If one woman will fly, more
will,” she says. “Aviation is such a great community. Every pilot I’ve
met is so helpful and willing to share their aviation stories. I think
women would, too. If they hear about more women in aviation, more women
will come.”
Neuville works with Jon Harden of Aviation
Insurance Resources in Frederick and says she is thrilled to have a
job in aviation as well as the chance to fly Harden’s Cessna 172.
Neuville
and Goyer share the desire to pay forward—or fly forward, if you
will—their opportunities. “I believe the best way to thank a role model
is to pay it forward by putting into application what you have learned
from them,” Goyer says.
If you didn’t make it to the
airport on March 12, the opportunity to take someone flying is as close
as the next sunny day. Aviation has the reputation of being a boys’
club. We know it’s open to everyone. Invite a friend to share the sky
with you.
E-mail the author at jill.tallman@aopa.org. Photography by Chris Rose.
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Friday's Fabulous Flyer: Victoria Neuville
Victoria’s life is a novel with the perfect ending yet to be written.
Every novel needs a protagonist, an inciting incident, a goal, a point where the protagonist’s unyielding commitment to their goal is noted, and then the challenges begin. Like every award winning movie, the protagonist doesn’t give up despite those obstacles, and succeeds in achieving her goals.
Slapped in the face with the flying bug, at a very young age, was Victoria’s inciting incident. When she turned sixteen she attended ground school and took her first discovery flight. Her goal to become a pilot was released to the wind.
When she turned twenty, she knew that she could become a pilot for a living. Proud to be the next female aviator, her unyielding commitment was established. Ambitious. Tenacious. Determined. Victoria shouted to the world, “I am going to be a pilot! There is nothing that can stop me now!”
Her first challenge was how she’d pay for her training. She is so thankful that her parents enabled her to fly back into the nest to save money. But just like the perfect novel, the road blocks soon began.
Medical issues delayed her private pilot training twice, but she persevered. Instructors left and FBO’s closed, but nothing could stop her. Then two years later, with loans in hand, she became a private pilot. Five months after that, she was instrument rated. Then the money dried up and she sat on the fence, literally, watching planes take off and land, figuring out how to keep her dream alive.
When a door closes, another opens. Due to Michigan’s depressed economy the city began a “No Worker Left Behind” program, financing education. After five months of meetings and tests, she was granted funding and went running, with a hop, skip, and a jump, to the airport. She could not see anyway that she would not become a professional pilot now.
She was preparing for her commercial checkride when life came to a sudden halt. She suffered a detached retina and was blind in a small part of her left eye. She underwent two laser eye surgeries to prevent further detachment, and was told by her doctor, and by AOPA, that she would not qualify for a medical. There was no way she would believe them. She also had played with aerobatics, some of the most fun flying she’d ever done, and now she was grounded from that too.
Victoria's eyes have since healed, and she can see her dreams clearly again. She received her second class medical. Keeping near to the aviation industry, while she focuses on her dream, she now works for an aviation insurance company. Once again, she’s learning a new airport, and a new type of airplane to complete her commercial checkride, but she is flying.
Nine years, seven instructors, three airports, multiple surgeries, and depleted private loans later, she’s still optimistic to a happy ending of the story she calls her life. Despite the continued obstacles, Victoria has dared to dream. With that dream, and her unwillingness to give up, she will become a commercial pilot, and continue to be an inspiration to all.
Victoria has no extra income and is working full time, but she's also applying for aviation scholarships. She may not know how she's going to do it, but she knows she will.
Despite the challenges in life, with the right attitude and perseverance, anyone can accomplish their dreams, as long as they never give up.
Dare to dream! Victoria is, one flight hour at a time.
Enjoy the Journey!
