Lean on me

The pair look a lot alike with their mermaid hair and blond/blue-eyed coloring, but they’d never met before last year when they were introduced at Salisbury Regional Airport (SBY) in Maryland. They struck up an unlikely friendship as their age difference might belie—Trate is half Ammon’s age—and their mutual love for flying instantly bonded them. Both are avid pilots, charging through ratings, and gaining experience quickly—even purchasing airplanes at the instant the flying bug bit. Ammon owns a Beech Sierra and Trate a Piper Cherokee 140. What their friendship has given them is something anyone who has started their aviation journey could wish for: mentorship, friendship, and a shoulder to lean on.

“I met Ava at my flight school’s maintenance shop, and despite being half my age, Ava and I immediately clicked. We started studying for our ratings together, sharing resources, and cheering each other on,” Ammon said. “Ava used my Sierra for her complex time, and I practiced some maneuvers for my commercial rating in her Piper. We’ve had study sessions, traveled to fly-ins, and made countless memories.”

Both had interesting ways they were introduced to flying. Ammon agreed to go with her nephew when he said he was taking an introductory flight. So awed by the flight, she told her nephew there were going to be two new pilots in the family. “His mom got him a discovery flight and when he said he wasn’t sure he wanted to go by himself, I said I’ll go with you,” Ammon said. “We had a great CFI and he let us do a lot; I had never been in a small aircraft before and the amount of control we had I loved. When we were on the ground, I looked at my nephew and said, ‘Guess who is going to ground school with you?’”

Trate was in a pre-college program for nursing and just didn’t feel like it was right for her. She called her father and tossed out ideas until he said why don’t you go to flight school like your brother? “When Dad said he’d pay for training, he got me signed up and I fell in love with it. The owner of the flight school said, ‘Just get a degree in something,’ so when I was looking at the community college programs I saw aviation maintenance. I had no clue it was a thing. I thought why not learn about what I am flying?”

Now an A&P mechanic, Trate was working on Ammon’s Sierra when the two met. It was instant chemistry. They started talking aviation and haven’t stopped. “When we initially met, we decided to get our seaplane ratings together but then we switched and got our commercial. And now we’re doing CFI and CFII together,” Trate said. “Just finding another woman in aviation is awesome. I just held on to that.”“Ava used my Sierra for her complex time, and I practiced some maneuvers for my commercial rating in her Piper. We’ve had study sessions, traveled to fly-ins, and made countless memories.”“I think I asked you to go to Sun ’n Fun like the first day we started talking,” said Ammon. “I found this friend to go on adventures with and then we started studying together, doing checkride prep, and checking in with each other. I’m really bad at systems and she said she was bad with weather, so we helped each other.”

On the path to become CFIs and then CFIIs, the pair signed up for spin training with Robert “Rooster” Schmidle in Easton, Maryland. On an overcast day this past summer the two women had to drive up from Ocean City, Maryland, which had low ceilings, instead of flying their aircraft. Easton is about two hours west of Ocean City, and it had clear skies and great visibility. Schmidle was ready for them in his bright red Pitts biplane.

First the retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, fighter pilot, and airshow performer sat the two down in the FBO offices for a “firehose of information.” He teaches spin training and aerobatics in Easton as part of his retirement, which also includes performing in airshows. When he deemed the women ready, he strapped Ammon in the front seat first.

“That was when I got nervous because there are so many harnesses; it took almost a full 10 minutes to strap me in!” she said. “But then we were up in the air, and it was so fun. I felt like I was up there for just five minutes. The least favorite part was having to come back in and land.”

Trate took several deep breaths and took her turn. “It’s easy to talk about stuff in flight training, like these are the steps to take to get out of a spin, but until you’re actually in it, it all kind of clicks and makes sense because you saw it happen and now you know why.”“I’m really bad at systems and she said she was bad with weather, so we helped each other.”

The pair have introduced each other to their aviation circles, such as Ammon’s membership in The Ninety-Nines. And Trate helps Ammon with the maintenance on her Sierra. They’ve taken their significant others along on trips but when the conversation invariably turns to aviation, the men take a step back. “They talk about fishing or something and Dave [Ammon’s husband] looked at Ava’s boyfriend and said, Do you get this all the time? This is all they talk about,’” Ammon said. “And he’s like, ‘Yep. Absolutely. A foreign language.’”

The two pilots say it is extremely rewarding to have found each other. “When we haven’t seen each other for weeks it’s like I feel like I have all this stuff to talk to her about,” said Ammon.

Their journey is far from over. They planned to complete accelerated CFI and CFII programs in Minnesota by November 2024. Separately, Trate pursued her inspection authorization, and Ammon will be completing an aircraft dispatcher program later in 2025.

“Meeting Ava was like finding a kindred spirit in the aviation world. We’ve been each other’s support system and motivation, and I feel truly blessed to have her as a friend.” FT

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