afternoons and , sometimes , let Chris “ take control ” of the plane .
While Chris Girdler never got his pilot ’ s license , he said he is happy to “ live vicariously ” through Charleston .
According to Charleston , “ I ’ ve been interested in flying for a few years , but I didn ’ t start flying until around August of last year . I ’ ve been really interested in it for a while , and we just decided to see if it was something worth pursuing .” Her father said he asked friend of the family David Morris to take her up for her first flight .
“ I told her mother , ‘ This is going to go one of two ways ,’ because she had never flown , even commercially , before . I said , ‘ She ’ s either going to get up there in the air and be scared to death and hate it , or she ’ s going to get up there and absolutely fall in love with it .’ And when she landed you should have seen the smile on her face . It was like the Joker from Batman .”
She takes lessons as often as she can , which during summer break means every other week or so . She is training in one of Dicey Aviation ’ s Piper Warriors .
Her instructor is Caitlin Willis , whom Chris Girdler said he had every confidence in .
“ She is wonderful . She has so much patience with all of her students . She ’ s helped instill a lot of confidence in Charleston . Charleston has gone from literally never having flown a plane a year ago to , in her last lesson in which Dad rode in the back seat , taking off and landing on her own . ... Granted , Caitlin is there for oversight , and in case anything goes haywire , which , again , ol ’ Daddy riding in the back is glad that she is ,” Chris Girdler said .
For a typical lesson , Charleston said , “ We go through preflight and we check everything , make sure there ’ s no bolts loose and check the fuel , oil , all of that . And then we get in the air and take off , fly around and do some maneuvers .” That ’ s where the stalls come in .
Charleston explains that stalls are “ where
36 • SEKY - Life in Southeast Kentucky august 2022