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An Aloha resident is one of the Portland Community College aviation program's first success stories.
Sarah Brown, 19, was the first student to become a flight instructor and to get a job as a commercial pilot, said Susan Hereford, PCC's communications manager.
"She's one of the youngest in the country to do so," Hereford said.
Brown started work last month as a medical flight copilot for Aero Air, part of the LifeFlight network based at Hillsboro Airport.
"It's so cool," Brown said. "I'm having a blast."
Her first Aero Air flight was "definitely the realization of a really huge goal I had," Brown said.
She's quick to say many PCC aviation students have become flight instructors and are on their way to securing commercial jobs.
Brown started flight training in 2001, after entering PCC's Gateway to College program (formerly College Bound), which helps students earn college credit while they finish high school.
"It was really, really a big deal to have College Bound help me out," Brown said.
She called the program "more to the point" than traditional high school.
"I knew that I wanted to fly, without question. It was more a matter of how I was going to make it happen," she said.
Gateway to College enabled Brown to receive training, certification, be a flight instructor and attend school all at once.
"That was busy," Brown admitted. "That was a full plate and then some."
But Gateway, with its emphasis on career track development, was "the key to all these different doors," Brown said.
One course required students to write a resume, explore a career, set job goals and research industry employers.
"I feel like that class got me the job here (at Aero Air)," Brown said. "I was 100 percent sure this was where I wanted to be."
PCC's programs and aviation classes also create some academic recognition Brown said aviators have earned.
"I feel so lucky to have found that school," Brown said.
She's one class away from earning an associate degree in aviation science.
Brown called Oregon, with its varying geography and weather, a great place to train.
She added her job at Aero Air is building on that, allowing her to fly more complicated planes, deal with weather she avoided as an instructor and learn from experienced pilots.
"It's a whole new set of questions," she said. "A different frame of reference."
Brown previously was a flight instructor for Hillsboro Aviation, which partnered with PCC to develop the aviation science degree program.
There, Brown said, she worked with people from all sorts of cultures and income levels.
"There are as many different ways to pay for flight training as there are pilots," Brown said. "It's not as exclusive as it seems."
Brown added she was lucky to have the funds to train quickly.
"I want to be able to provide that to somebody else," she said.
"I'm a little too far down on the professional ladder right now but in a relatively short time I hope to be able to do that."
"My ultimate goal is to be flying around the world," Brown said, adding she wants to pilot international charter flights.
"I like travel, I love world travel and being exposed to different cultures. The best way to get there is to fly yourself."
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found this reading the newspaper. Damn, 19 and already a 135 SIC.
