Page 10 - Volume 15 Number 2

The delivery of the Stoddards’ new Citation Mustang was a special day, and symbolized years of hard work and determination. “We never imagined we’d own an airplane like this.”
Kelly always knew that she wanted to fly and by age 17, she had earned her private ticket. Her father, an avid pilot, owned a Cessna 172XP and later a Bonanza A36 and encouraged her to learn. She landed a customer service job at an FBO at the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport just so she could be around airplanes and the people who flew them. She attended the Florida Institute of Technology in nearby Melbourne, Fla. After graduating with a degree in aviation management, she signed up for more flight training
8 • ­TWIN & TURBINE
at FlightSafety International’s Vero Beach campus to attain advanced ratings including commercial, multi- engine and CFI certificates.
Kelly’s first professional flying job was a bit hairy. Working for Disney World near Orlando, she donned a Chip ‘n Dale chipmunk costume and flew a paraplane (essentially a propeller-driven go-cart attached to a parachute) in a daily air show. Flying in formation with seven other paraplanes, Kelly would maneuver over Epcot and the park’s lagoon
while pyrotechnics went off below the crafts.
“The thing flew a top speed of 26 knots,” Kelly laughed. “But because it was an experimental aircraft, I could log the time.”
After a year Disney disbanded the show, and Kelly landed a gig flying right seat in a Lear 25 air ambulance. Flying for virtually nothing so she could gain turbine flight time, Kelly gained tremendous experience flying in all sorts of weather and to a variety of airports.
FEBRUARY 2011
Keith Fox Photography