A creative path to aviation

That moment marked the beginning of a path that would eventually take them from art school to commercial and instructor certificates. "That was really my first experience with having the controls and understanding the actual depth of what happens in the flight deck," Baumgartner said. "I found that to be enthralling."

Baumgartner's father volunteered with a CAP squadron near the family's home outside Chicago and made sure his children were introduced to aviation early. Baumgartner later joined CAP in high school, although a part-time job kept them from completing formal flight training there. Flying remained an interest, even when life took them in another direction. At Northern Illinois University, Baumgartner studied illustration rather than aviation. The airport was only about 20 minutes from campus, and their father encouraged Baumgartner to begin working toward a private pilot certificate, being aware of the demand for pilots. At the same time, he wanted Baumgartner to finish college and they eventually graduated with a bachelor's degree in illustration.

The route from art school to the flight deck may seem unusual, but Baumgartner sees a connection between the two. "I think the biggest thing that being an artist has helped me with is problem solving," they said. Art school taught Baumgartner to explore ideas from different angles, a habit that followed them into aviation. When teaching, Baumgartner might draw an aircraft system on a whiteboard instead of using a complicated textbook diagram. This lets students learn the system one piece at a time. "You have checklists to run, but you also have to make decisions," Baumgartner said. "If you’re quick about making connections, you can continuously make good decisions."

After college, Baumgartner researched flight schools and, with encouragement from their father, applied to United Aviate Academy. They left their job and moved to Arizona. Over the next 19 months, Baumgartner went from private pilot training through commercial and multiengine flying to earning certificated flight instructor, instrument instructor, and multiengine instructor qualifications. The pace was fast, but the training was not always smooth. Arizona heat, wind, and monsoon weather interrupted flights.

Preparing for the CFI checkride brought another challenge: Knowing the material was one thing; teaching it was another. "It's very hard to teach people how to teach," Baumgartner said. They learned by watching classmates teach and seeing how others explained difficult ideas. Baumgartner also failed part of the initial CFI checkride, an experience that changed their approach. "I think that also helped me learn that… it's always good to reach out to other instructors and other students and kind of continuously gather from other people's experience and knowledge to make yourself the best pilot and instructor you can be." Baumgartner still uses those lessons while tutoring student pilots alongside a day job dispatching for a flight school. Recently, Baumgartner helped a private pilot prepare for a checkride with practice questions, weather planning, and navigation logs. Teaching has also helped Baumgartner better understand the material.

As an introvert, Baumgartner often found it easier to make friends online than in person. The National Gay Pilots Association helped change that. Baumgartner had heard of NGPA before moving to Arizona, but the organization became more relevant to them after they connected with an NGPA group at Aviate and met other transgender aviators. "Just because there are not a lot of transgender pilots in aviation now," Baumgartner said, "it doesn't mean that we aren't there, and that we can't continue our journeys just like everyone else did."

Baumgartner's advice to people interested in aviation is simple: Find people who can support you. They pointed to groups such as NGPA, Women in Aviation International, and The Ninety-Nines as places to make connection and find community. "That support structure is what's going to get you through training," said Baumgartner, who is now seeking a CFI position as they work toward the experience needed for their next milestone. The airlines are still Baumgartner's long-term goal, with FAR Part 135 flying another option.

Networking was not a priority during flight training, and Baumgartner did not always feel comfortable in professional aviation spaces. That has changed.

"I need to be in the room to make something happen," they said. Yet one of Baumgartner's most meaningful aviation goals is much closer to home. Their father spent years around aviation but never completed the same path. Now that their training is complete, Baumgartner hopes to take him flying and show him some of the commercial maneuvers he never had the opportunity to learn. "I think it would be fun and intriguing to teach him a little bit more about aviation, even though he's been in it for years and years, and connect with him in a way that no one else in my family really can." Baumgartner has become the most highly rated pilot in the immediate family, a reversal they enjoy. "I think t's really fun to be the cool sibling that can go fly an airplane."