From East Coast med student to Alaska pilot in less than 4 weeks

While other college students welcomed the summer with time away from their books, Powell instead went full tilt into flight training mode, cramming 54.6 flight hours into only 26 days. Most flight students need between 60 and 80 hours to earn the private pilot certificate.

Powell searched until she found a flight school that could accommodate the limited time between her classes and practical medical rounds. She was quick to compliment ACME Cub Training instructor Terry Cartee and staff for dedicating their time to keep her—and the Piper Super Cub taildraggers she used—in top shape during the epic session at Anchorage’s Lake Hood Airport.

“He’s 70-something and is a seasoned bush pilot. Terry’s never crashed his Cub and he’s had it for 40 years, so those are pretty good credentials in my mind,” she explained.

Powell learned in a full-bore bushplane. The Piper PA–18 Super Cub has a 160-horsepower engine with 35-inch bush wheels, extended gear, big shocks, and a VFR panel augmented with a Garmin G5.

The medical student is familiar with the grind of long hours and relentless studying, so she mentally prepared herself for a flight training marathon and credited boyfriend and bush pilot Chris Rush for mentoring her and answering questions that invariably arose from the onrush of tackling so many flight training procedures in such little time.

However, Rush almost derailed the effort when he explained VORs to her “completely backwards. But in my defense, I’d never seen one work because the Super Cub didn’t have one”. Practical experience brought additional comfort tracking the VOR stations on the ground, but she prefers a GPS, when available.

Powell added that she would like to get more comfortable with off-airport operations and the benefits of a backcountry-capable taildragger. “I had those big tundra tires, but I didn’t really put them to work. Gravel bars, fishing, camping—that’s something I really want to do.” 

Since it remains daylight until the wee hours of the morning during Alaska summers, night flight hours are nearly impossible to log, and Powell’s certificate comes with some restrictions. The 24-year-old can only fly daytime VFR until she completes night cross country requirements and plans are in the works to accomplish that in short order with a Maryland or Virginia flight school.

Her family lives in Alaska and her father is a retired U.S. Air Force physician, so Powell sees the value of combining her aviation passion with her medical expertise when she returns to Alaska after her studies are complete. She said there are doctors in Alaska who have a practice in Anchorage and clinics on the Kenai Peninsula, “and they fly back and forth from the mainland” to the glacier-framed wilderness.

Powell said she might consider following in their footsteps when the timing is right, but for now, additional ratings and certificates are long-term goals after her medical residency requirements are well behind her.