October 15,
2017 marked the 44th year that the Lake Erie 99’s have chosen a distinguished
lady pilot to honor from among their own ranks. In keeping with the past
tradition, a delicious dinner was scheduled and we all looked forward to
spending time talking and reminiscing about our favorite subject. Flying. This
newbie loves the opportunity to listen and my seasoned sisters talk about their
current and past days of flight. I also find it interesting to learn what
brought each of us to the point of starting flight lessons. The reasons for
taking those first steps are as diverse as our hair color and just as creative. In 2017
Donna G. Fulks was given the award of Pilot of the Year for the Lake Erie
Chapter of the 99’s. The following is her story as shared through an interview
at one of our meetings.
Donna’s flying career began one evening
at the dinner table. With her children all filling their mouths with the dinner
Donna had prepared, her pilot husband announced, “Dear I think you should learn
how to fly.” Well that wasn’t on her to do list. She was a happy wife and mom
taking care of her family in the style of the early 1960’s. She and her friends did some bowling and a
little golfing during the day and she was perfectly happy with her life as it
was. So Donna promptly said. “No thank you. I don’t think so.”
His argument, however, was completely
logical. If anything were to happen to him while they were flying, she could
land the plane. Donna assured him that she was willing to take her chances.
Her husband soon won the debate and scheduled
her flight training which began on April 1, 1964. She decided to go along with
the lesson and hope for a thunderstorm or tornado. Neither of these things
happened. Her first lesson led to
another and then another until she had her Private Pilots license.
She received her instruction at Southern
Airways near Youngstown, a “rinky dink little airport near Boardman, OH, a dirt strip with a bit of gravel and grass
growing here and there.” There were
trees at one end and a hill at the other end of its 2900 feet.
She had most of her lessons in a Piper
Colt and a couple in a Cherokee. Eventually her husband and his partner
bought an airplane.
She
thought she was off the hook since the two of them could fly together. Then one
day when she saw them land in a pretty blue and white Comanche 250, she decided
that maybe she’d need to try it out. Blue was her favorite color after all! She started lessons in the Comanche and got her instrument and commercial license
in that airplane.
Her instructor Nick was an Air Force
Pilot and very hard. She knew that as long as she did exactly what she was
supposed to do it was fine. Truthfully she was too afraid to forget anything! Her advice to student pilots reflects this
experience. “If you want to do it just
get out there and do it. And even if you don’t want to do it just get out there
and do it anyhow. Do just what you were taught every time and it will work out.”
Donna will tell you that she was a
reluctant student. She began flying out of a sense of family and desire to be a
good wife. She was content to be a passenger. But flying came easy to her and
she grew to love it.
As her experience grew, she became
interested in the many small proficiency races that were available and she
began flying these races with several different co-pilots.
In 1979 she thought she’d try one of the
big races. She decided on the 50th Anniversary Commemorative race of
the 1929 Powder Puff Derby. This was the race that Amelia Earhart had flown. That
1979 race was called the Angel Derby which later became Air Race Classic.
Her co-pilot that year was her daughter
Dana. The race started in California with
18 stops just like the 1929 race and terminated at Burke Lakefront
Airport. They also flew in the 1986 race that started in California and
terminated at Toledo. They had a whole lot of fun flying these races together. In
total she flew for 28 years before she retired.
Since there weren’t many women pilots in
the 60’s, she went on a search and came across the Ohio Chapter of the 99’s.
They met in Cincinnati and the distance made it a challenge for her. So in
January 12, 1974 she, along with Bernice Barris and Dodie Jewett formed the first group that became the Lake Erie Chapter.
As we wound up the meeting that day, Donna
was asked to supply the Safety Tip for our meeting. Her advice was what we all
need to remember no matter how long ago our training was. She said, “Do a good
walk around. Listen to your instructor and do exactly what he says.”
Here is a tip of the wing to Donna and
her dedication to the 99’s organization especially the Lake Erie Chapter. We
are thankful for her vision all those years ago and for her dedication to
flight as pursued by woman and the encouragement we can be to one another. We
are all better for having the privilege of knowing her.
2018
© Charlene M Campanella
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.