Aviation India: Careers

I am the first pilot in all the generations of my family. So there really wasn't anybody who influenced me. I would always have dreams where I was flying - like I was a superhero - so I knew I had to do something about it. As soon as I started flying at the University of North Dakota, I said, "This is it! I like this, I really do."
We flew all year round in North Dakota. I've even flown in temperatures of minus 45 degrees with wind chill. It wasn't bad, actually.

What do I like about flying? It's the joy and the adrenalin that you get from experiencing something so beautiful and phenomenal. It's almost unexplainable.
As a pilot, your preparation starts 24 hours in advance of a flight: getting a good night's sleep, eating right, checking the weather and runway conditions.
If you're going to a new airport you need to look at the airport diagram; study radio frequencies, runway lengths and directions; plan ahead which runway you might use by looking at the forecasted winds; look at charts to get an idea of the terrain around the airport.
The most important thing is to always be vigilant and familiar with your surrounding area. Because when you're flying, you need to always ask this one question: "If my engine quits right now where am I going to land?"
I'm a flight instructor at North Coast Air and my duties are to guide students and teach them how to fly. Help them get their licenses and ratings. A rating is part of our pilot certificate that states the privileges and limitations - basically what a pilot can and cannot do.
We fly the Cessna 172 Skyhawk, which is a four-seat, single-engine plane, and the Cessna 152, a two-seat, single-engine plane. The cost and length of time to get a private pilot's license depends on the student: how fast they learn and how motivated they are.
I'm very happy where I am now but I would definitely love to fly corporate in the near future. I've always dreamed of flying with a company like NetJets, which has smaller business jets - the Gulfstreams or Falcons.
I just started a program called "Take to the Sky," with North Coast Air and Valley of the Moon Teen Center in Sonoma. It's a flight program where I'm trying to encourage young women to pursue their dreams, hopefully in aviation. To say, "You can do it. I've done it."
09/11/09 Edward Guthmann/San Francisco Chronicle, USA