Five Questions: Kellee Edwards

How did you get started in aviation? I was sitting at Burbank Airport waiting for a flight and saw a small airplane doing what I now know to be touch and goes. With Burbank being a commercial airport, I was amazed to see a small aircraft manned by one person flying in and out of there. That moment made aviation accessible to me; I’d only been aware that pilots primarily came from a military background. I drove to Whiteman Airport and did a walk around a Cessna 172. When I sat inside the cockpit, I was hooked.

What were the biggest challenges learning to fly? My biggest challenge was overcoming my fear of performing the stall maneuvers. It only takes a millisecond that feels like an eternity if you don’t have enough right rudder/ball centered and that wing drops more than it’s supposed to! Spin recovery is something that I wish was still required during training for your private pilot license. It is the one maneuver that I practice the most to this day when I go up with an instructor to brush up.

What’s your favorite aircraft? Cessna 172, it’s the aircraft I took my first flight and completed my private in. It will always be near and dear to my heart. I’m also obsessed with the Cirrus SR22, but then again, who isn’t?

What’s the most fun you’ve had in an airplane? One of my most memorable experiences was flying my grandma—my first passenger—to the Waypoint Café at Camarillo Airport for lunch. She brags about it to this day. Also tied for first is when I flew for the opening sequence for my TV show Mysterious Islands on Travel Channel. I flew around the island of Molokai in Hawaii. All these years of hard work, learning, and flying led up to that moment—to fly on my own TV show.

What advice do you have for students? Do your best not to stop or have significant gaps in training. As a frequent traveler, I would take a lesson, leave the country for a week or two and when I’d come back to resume my training, I would forget half the information and maneuvers I just learned. It only took that happening a good three to four times before I decided to put on hold anything that would take me away from being able to focus on my lessons until I completed both my solo and cross-countries.