Fun with Leah Froehlich

That little ironic wise crack sums up CFI and social media influencer Leah Froehlich’s quirky sense of humor and why she has gained such a following. Even her handle on social media is ironic: it’s @leahthal_inflight, a play on “lethal.” But don’t let her sarcastic approach to instruction fool or concern you—this dedicated CFI is serious when it comes to sharing the sky with others, especially those she is teaching.

“The hardest part about teaching is understanding that everyone learns differently,” she says. “I’m sarcastic with the right people. I never want to come across as someone who is sarcastic where it is not the right time or place. But yes, when I’m having fun or maybe with a student who doesn’t think they are ever wrong, I’ll mess with them a little bit, put them in their place, and remind them, hey, we’re all learning here.”

She was a physical therapy assistant in her hometown of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, when her father took her flying in a Beechcraft Bonanza A36. “As soon as I took the controls, I knew I had to do that,” she says. “And then my dad was like you should do this as a career, but I doubted myself and then my mom stepped in and said you can do whatever you want. They are both amazing. I went through my ratings and then started to instruct to build hours.”

She wanted to network with other pilots, so she turned to social media. After posting her first instruction video she realized she was on to something. “I was getting these amazing comments from people, and I thought maybe I can inspire others,” she says.“I was getting these amazing comments from people, and I thought maybe I can inspire others.”

She now has more than 43,000 followers who not only “get” her humor and sarcasm, but also benefit from her deep dives into explanations on her videos. She adds captions that put maneuvers and lessons into context. “Let’s say I’m teaching steep turns and you’re watching my video teaching a student. I realize that viewers are only seeing a small bit of how you perform a steep turn. But what else goes into it? It’s not just hop into the airplane; I’m giving them reasons why things are done.”

If you’ve watched Froehlich’s videos you also probably know “Fred.”

“I came up with the bug when I asked a student if, as a student pilot, you could take a passenger flying. Fred is a bug that flies into your airplane. Is he considered a passenger? Can you take Fred the bug flying?”

Smiling, she adds: “I guess you could say I do have some wit and sometimes I’m goofy in the airplane. I do try to make flight training fun for the students. I think that’s very huge.”

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