Countywide : COSTA MESA : Pilot Hopes Her Award Inspires Women to Fly

For Lyn Carlson, climbing into the cockpit of an airplane seems almost as natural as walking.

Carlson’s grandfather, a glider pilot, was licensed by Orville Wright. Two of her uncles were flight instructors during World War II. And although Carlson said she knew she drove her grandmother to tears each time she got behind the controls of an airplane, she could not be stopped.

“There is just nothing like it,” said Carlson, chief flight instructor for Sunrise Aviation at John Wayne Airport and an instructor at Orange Coast College. “You actually leave the planet when you are flying.”

Her lifelong passion led Carlson, like her uncles, to become a flight instructor. Rewarding her dedication, the Federal Aviation Administration last month gave her the highest award in her profession: Flight Instructor of the Year.

Flight instructors nominated by airports and colleges compete for the national award. Regional FAA officials inspect the schools, review recommendations of colleagues and select local winners. Those people then vie for the national honor.

“It was amazing,” said Carlson, beaming. “Here I am, 51 years old, and nothing like this has ever happened to me.”

Though she spends more teaching time on the ground than flying these days, Carlson delights in recounting her past adventures in the air.

To date, her most exciting journey was across the Atlantic Ocean following the route flown by Charles Lindbergh, who made the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. She made the trip in the same type of plane and with the same dangerous fuel system that the famous aviator used.

She tore out the back seats of the small propeller plane, designed to fly for no more than 4 1/2 hours, and filled in the space with 50-gallon drums of gasoline. She even carried with her a fly in a tiny cage.

“Lindbergh’s only companion was a fly that had gotten trapped in the plane,” she explained. “He said he was grateful to have it because it kept him awake.”

Carlson said she hopes her award will inspire young women to become pilots. Only about 5% of pilots in the United States today are women, she said.

“If my winning this award will help other women to look at flying as a possible hobby or profession, it will be a wonderful result,” she said.