Another update from Rachel, An Advanced Rating Scholarship Winner!

This is the second journal entry provided to us by Rachel Borsa, who was selected for an Advanced Training Scholarship within The Girls With Wings 2014 Scholarship Program to help defray the cost of flight training lessons in pursuit of an Advanced Rating or Certificate such as instrument rating, commercial pilot certificate, flight instructor certificate, instrument flight instructor certificate, multi-engine rating or multi-engine flight instructor certificate. This new scholarship award is in the amount of $1000, funded by the generous donations from supporters of Girls With Wings, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Rachel's application essay is published here and her first update here.

Today…. I passed my Certified Flight Instructor Instrument Check Ride! YAY! I’m very excited to have been able to get this rating so quickly. I think it helped that I have a year of instructing under my belt and had been teaching in the simulator. Also, I tend to talk out loud when I fly (it helps me) so teaching instrument approaches and maneuvers was no problem.

I had an hour-long oral about instrument flying and different teaching techniques. The Designated Pilot Examiner had a lot of good tips about teaching instrument students, especially with steam gauges. It is a little, and when I say a little, I mean a lot, different flying instrument approaches and intercepting airways in a glass cockpit. I believe this training has made me a better pilot and instructor.

During the oral, the DPE started talking about Lafayette airport; turns out he was also a Boilermaker! He went through the Professional Pilot Program, too, and flew for TWA for 36 years. He was such an inspiration and a wonderful person to take a check ride with. Thank you, Wally, for such a good experience.

 The school I was flying at, CRAFT, has asked if I will stay on as a flight instructor. Once Air Race is over, I plan on instructing after work and on the weekends. So, if anyone is in Charleston and wants flight lessons, I’M NOW AVAILABLE

Thank you to Girls with Wings for making this possible! I would not have been able to afford it on my own this summer. And thanks to CRAFT for allowing me to train with them and for having such well maintained airplanes. I feel so blessed to be adding another rating to my license. Flying is my passion and if I can help make it someone else’s, then I’m a happy pilot!

Essays about flight training from the other awardees will be published here as they are received.