How Megan Became a flyGIRL

By Natalie “flyGIRL” Kelly

What do you call a motivated, adventurous, determined, female with a passion for aviation? A flyGIRL! Megan Gerding has always loved to travel. She went to college and earned an associate’s degree in eco-tourism and adventure travel. She quickly found out that the number of jobs in this field were limited and unsatisfying. Megan doesn’t settle and she refused to accept a dead end career. She decided that it would be in her best interest to pursue other avenues and obtain more education. She enrolled in an online college program to work on obtaining her bachelor’s degree in business management while continuing to work full-time in various job positions, including a sales job and also working as a barista.

During this busy time, she decided to further investigate other career options in a variety of fields. Megan wanted to pursue a career she could be excited about as she headed to work every day! She kept her mind open to any ideas at this point. One of her employers had a flight department. One day, she decided to check it out. As she made her way to the flight department and hangar, she wondered what administrative position would be appealing to her. The pilot had other ideas to present to her. She could be an actual pilot flying in the cockpit, not sitting at a desk! She comes from a family of aviators. Her grandfather was a pilot, as well as several uncles and cousins. However, she had never really considered that she could actually be a pilot too. She was intrigued and decided to book a discovery flight at a local airport and see what it was like to actually sit in an airplane as a pilot, not just a passenger.

Although she had some issues with motion sickness, after that first flight, she was immediately hooked and knew what direction her career focus would be going from that point forward. All of her priorities shifted that day. Megan doesn’t procrastinate. She began training as soon as she could get on the school’s schedule. During the initial stages of her training, she found juggling full-time work, online classes and flight training to be very challenging and felt her once-a-week flight lessons weren’t consistent enough to enable her to progress as she had planned. Her available study time was very limited. A plan was created to get her through flight training at a faster pace. She saved money from her sales job for a year to be able to dedicate her time and money to flight train. Her spending habits significantly changed. Each time she considered a purchase, she would equate the cost of the item with how much flight time she could purchase instead with that money. That’s determination! She quit her job, finished her online class load and began flight training on a full-time basis. The money she had saved was used for her flight instruction but she also applied for scholarships to help alleviate the costs so that she could forge ahead as quickly as possible. Some of the financial pressure and strain were released after she was awarded the flyGIRL scholarship in April.

Along the way, she encountered some raised eyebrows and disbelief from friends. Many people thought she was nuts to have such a lofty dream and would never make it to the finish line. That just made her work that much harder and gave her the determination to prove them wrong. She surprised herself with her perseverance and persistence. Her naysayers became her motivation to forge ahead as an excellent student pilot. Her focus was undeniable. She also ran into some challenges passing the first class medical due to her childhood medical history. That did not deter her. She would not give up. She spoke with the FAA regularly and had to go through numerous medical tests and exams to prove she was healthy enough to be a professional pilot. Each exam and phone call propelled her that much closer to finally obtaining that all-important first class medical certificate.

Since beginning her full-time pilot training in April of this year, Megan has since earned her private pilot’s license, her instrument rating, her commercial rating, and her CFI (certified flight instructor) rating. She is now a full-time instructor at Sporty’s Academy in Ohio. She is very excited about teaching others to fly and will encourage students to work hard to achieve their goals in aviation. She is extremely grateful to have found a career path that she loves and about which she is excited. In her own words, “Challenges and all, I would do it all over again… Aviation has not only given me a career path, but it also changed me as a person.”

Being a female pursuing aviation definitely has its challenges. However, the encouragement at local airports and flight training facilities from men and women is there. The wonderful thing about aviation is that it has a built-in support group who love to help others with their experience and knowledge. It is a unique opportunity to be a part of such an exclusive, close-knit community. Megan asserts that aviation requires learning and growth from individuals. The results are immeasurable and life-long.