A Manitoba girl whose dream of being a pilot was kickstarted by the Women of Aviation Worldwide event at St. Andrews Airport in March wasted no time fulfilling that dream.
- Lindsay Kitson was the first among thousands of participants in Women of Aviation Worldwide events to solo an airplane.
Lindsay Kitson started flying lessons two days after the March 9 event and recently celebrated her first solo. That made her the first event participant in 2013 to fly an airplane by herself and she was awarded a prize package that included a Sennheiser passive headset, equipment needed for her upcoming cross-country training, a jacket and backpack.
“I’ve always been fascinated with the idea of flight, but never imagined I could actually do it myself,” said Kitson in the form required to become eligible for the First-to-Solo Challenge. “I realized that the only reason I had never tried was because I was afraid people would laugh at me for wanting to. And once I realized that, then I couldn’t not try.”
Harv’s Air Class 1 Flight Instructor Sandra Proulx said Kitson has been a motivated student who is always well prepared. Her first flight alone was perfect.
“I’ve always loved teaching, and sharing my love of flying with others (it) is why I’m still instructing 9 years later,” said Proulx. “Lindsay has been very focused in getting her flight training done. She always comes prepared for her lessons and is very active in her learning. We are working at basically a full time schedule. I anticipate that if things continue, we should have her private pilot flight test completed by the end of the month.”