Page 12 - Aerotech News and Review, April 7, 2017

Three amazing female pilots break barriers
by Linda KC Reynolds
staff writer
Other than at the Los Angeles Coun- ty Air Show, nowhere in the world will you find four impressive Aeronautical History Panels which include: Out of the Black; The First Flight of the F-117 Nighthawk Stealth; Breaking Barriers: Women in Aviation; Free Falling from Space with Joe Kittinger; and Going Downtown — The Air War in Vietnam by people who were there, including Joe Kittinger and Dick Rutan.
Breaking Barriers included a dis- cussion with retired Air Force Lt. Col. Kelly Latimer, Air Force combat test pilot, NASA test pilot and current Virgin Galactic pilot; Army Reserve Maj. Jennifer Housholder, Army com- bat helicopter pilot; and Kelli Grove, Delta Air Lines pilot. The panel was moderated by aviation historian Dana Kilanowski.
Latimer wanted to be an astronaut for as long as she can remember. Fo- cused on her one goal, she researched and laid out a plan to pursue her dream. She discovered she needed to join the Air Force and become a test pilot first, and to do that, she needed a four year engineering degree.
“I put all those together so my ca- reer was always chasing that dream of being a NASA astronaut,” said Lat- imer.
That exact dream didn’t happen but it did set her up for a pretty amazing flying career.
Latimer was the first female re- search test pilot ever to join NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif., and she is now a test pilot for Virgin Galactic. “It is a round- about way but now I can help other people get into space.” She has also worked for Boeing and has accumu- lated more than 6,000 hours of military and civilian flight experience in more than 30 aircraft.
Housholder has always dreamed of being an astronaut and a fighter pilot. She joined ROTC in college and later became a lieutenant in the Air Force. Unfortunately, the Air Force told her she was too short to be a pilot.
“What are you talking about — I’m 5’10! It’s a good thing they didn’t do a psych evaluation on me!” said the petite Housholder.
Fulfilling her commitment to the
Air Force, she worked three years as an engineer on the F-22 program at Edwards. “It was great and a lot of fun but I still had that passion to fly,” shared Housholder. She switched over to the California Army National Guard and later to the Army Reserves. “It turns out they have lower height standards, and are the only ones crazy enough to let me be a pilot.”
Her parents were happy she was getting out of the Air Force but not so happy she was going to join the Army, because they thought it was too dan- gerous. “Don’t worry, I’m going in the Guard, they haven’t deployed since Korea!” she assured them.
Shortly after 9/11 while she was in flight school, her commander called her and told her to get ready to de- ploy to Iraq after graduation. Her unit performed multiple types of missions to include casualty evacuation, battle field circulation (moving troops from one forward operating base to anoth- er), air assaults, hero missions (moving service members killed for transport home) and VIP missions. She said that her unit flew Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey as part of a USO tour to visit troops in Iraq.
In addition to being one of the com- bat pilots, she was an intelligence of- ficer and had to study the enemy and brief other pilots on air threats. A few years later, she deployed with the Army Reserves to Kuwait in support of ARCENT’s mission. During this deployment, she became “deck land- ing qualified” and actually landed her Blackhawk helicopter on a Navy ship in the Persian Gulf.
“I never thought I would say this but I have a whole new respect for Navy pilots.”
Landing on a moving surface was not easy, especially at night with night vision goggles. It took both pilots and crew chiefs to safely land the aircraft. “It takes a whole team to fly. When my crew chief says something, I listen without hesitation.” Now Housholder is working to set up a new aviation bri- gade with the Reserves, in addition to flying with a MEDEV AC unit.
Grove, Delta Air Lines Pilot, re- members being inspired after watch- ing Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise, with her girlfriends.
“I watched it at a friend’s house be- cause I wasn’t allowed to watch it at
Photograph by Linda KC Reynolds
Los Angeles County Air Show hosted four history panels including Breaking Barriers: Women in Aviation. Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Kelly Latimer, Air Force combat test pilot, NASA test pilot and current Virgin Galactic pilot; Maj. Jennifer Housholder, U.S. Army Reserve combat helicopter pilot; and Kelli Grove, Delta Air Lines Pilot, share their stories on what it took to reach their goals and dreams. Aviation historian Dana Kilanowski moderated the event.
home,” said Grove. The girls decided right then that they were going to be fighter pilots. None of the young girls had family members in the military or were associated with flying.
When Grove was around 13, she flew with her family from Seattle to Anaheim, Calif., to vacation at Dis- neyland. “I remember being in the air- port and I loved the hustle, the people with their bags, I loved being in the clouds — that solidified it for me but then again, I still didn’t really know how to get there from here.”
While working as a bank teller dur- ing college, a friend told her about a job opening in Alaska, which required working in the cold and rain, throwing bags and loading cargo. “That actually sounded perfect!”
Grove was tired of only working a few hours and was ready to exchange high heels for sweatpants and a jump suit. She applied and was accepted to a fast-paced flight school in New Mexico right before 9/11. Most of the
students were already pilots and she didn’t have a concept of aerodynam- ics. After five months she figured she was in the wrong school. “Maybe this isn’t for me after all,” so she packed up again and moved to Los Angeles and took private flying lessons at a municipal airport.
Training in Santa Monica six to sev- en days a week doing double lessons, she completed her private, instrument, commercial, CFI and Double I in six months.
Nobody was hiring flight instruc- tors after 9-11 and her student loans were about due. Dreams of becoming a fighter pilot changed into becoming a commercial airline pilot.
Trying to make ends meet, she worked at the front desk in a flight office and a tanning salon. Eating the leftover food that was coming off the business jets and any leftover cater- ing food, Grove started to think about moving back to Seattle. At that point, she met a handsome corporate pilot.
He told her about a friend that had a flight school in Carlsbad who was looking for a flight instructor.
“Eventually I worked my way into the right seat of a business jet, then (piloted) for a wealthy family in a CJ2.” After 10 years of that she felt her knowledge had plateaued, so she took another job flying celebrities and athletes — and then she got a call from Delta. “I only had one month to pre- pare for the interview.” She studied day and night. “I quit drinking coffee a week before the interview because I wanted it to really kick in the morn- ing I interviewed!” It took 15 years, but her dream became reality — she is now a Delta pilot.
The common denominator of these incredible women is that they had a plan. Even though their origi- nal dreams changed, pursuing them led to amazing careers and they never gave up. And, that handsome pilot that Grove met: They were married in 2014.
Lancaster VA Clinic hosts open house for veterans
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System is hosting an Open House for Veterans at the Lancaster Community Based Outpatient Clinic, 340 E. Ave I Suite 108, Lancaster, CA 93535 on April 12 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Veterans and family members can receive information about VA specialty programs, local job opportunities and healthcare enrollment.
“The open house is a one-stop shop for veterans in the Antelope Valley,” said Charles Green, chief of outreach. “It’s a great way for Veterans and their families to learn about healthcare benefits and get enrolled in their local VA healthcare system. This is our first time hosting an open house at the Lancaster CBOC so we encourage as many veterans and family members to visit and learn about VA programs and benefits.”
VA Lancaster physicians, nurses and social workers will meet
with eligible Veterans to discuss their healthcare needs. VA repre- sentatives from MyHealtheVet, patient education resource center, weight loss programs, National Cemetery and veteran benefits personnel are some of the few VA vendors rounding out the list of participants.
“We’re trying to be innovative in bringing special opportunities to our veterans such as the job resource fair. This is a great op- portunity for veterans to enroll in healthcare while learning about careers and employment,” said Green.
Veterans can enjoy free giveaways, and as an added bonus, veterans in the healthcare system that bring a fellow Veteran who gets enrolled, receives a special gift bag.
For clinic addresses and additional information on enrollment visit www.losangeles.va.gov or call Charles Green at 424-645– 9865.
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Aerotech News and Review
April 7, 2017
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