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CESSNA 150 PILOTED BY BARB TARUTANI
CITATION BRAVO PILOTED BY ELLEN PRETORIUS
Flying is a little like a virus. You're either immune to it or you catch it
enjoyed it,” said Stype. Mostly Stype was looking to share her love for the skies.
"<M= Barb Tarutani, 45, of Wooster, was introduced to the world of flying a little differently. “It wasn’t a life-long dream for me,” said Tarutani. After graduating from the Air Force academy, she decided she was interested in learning the art of flying and potentially becoming a pilot. While attending flight school, Tarutani had the opportunity to fly twin engine jets and supersonic jets. Tarutani flew alongside the best of the best as she participated in flight formations and aerobatics and quickly caught the “virus.” “It’s a whole different world up there,” said Tarutani. “You just get away from it all.” Tarutani loved the speed of flying her fighter jets, whether she was flying 80 or 800 mph, the thrill and rush was unmatchable. While it was more acceptable for women to be involved in aviation, women were still not allowed to fly fighter jets into combat. After completing her flight training, Barb went on to become a flight instructor . “You have to stay focused up there,” said Tarutani. “Flying demands your full attention.” Tarutani said she has been in some scary situations before. When you’re flying in formations at 300 to 400 mph with only three to four feet between you and the next plane in formation, you have to be aware of everyone with in your formation, explained Tarutani. Aerobatics involve accelerations around 600 to 800 mph and involve following the leader into flips and twists through the sky. Tarutani met her husband in the military and after five years of being in the service she became pregnant. With her husband being deployed for dessert storm and herself unable to fly, she chose to take time off to support her family. After her husbands return from the military, the Tarutani’s moved to Wayne County, where a friend suggested she get back into flying. “I didn’t realize what it took to get back into flying and I really didn’t realize how much I missed it,” said Tarutani. Today she is a flight instructor at the Wayne County airport in Smithville, teaching private and instrumental classes from her Cessna 150.
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Ellen Pretorius, 53, of Smithville, came into the world of aviation purely by choice. “I met a girl who was a pilot and decided I wanted to learn how to fly so I asked my daddy for flying lessons,” said Pretorius. By her eighteenth birthday Pretorius was in the cockpit learning to fly. Pretorius started out learning at a flight school in New Philadelphia and continued her education at The Ohio State University, graduating with a degree in flight instrumentation and flight instruction. She began her career teaching at the Akron-Canton Airport and eventually found herself in the “right” (co-pilots) seat of a Cessna Conquest 2. From there, it wasn’t long before she was promoted to captain. Pretorius has been flying a Citation Bravo with MidAviation out of the Wayne County Airport for five years now.
7JH@I JA &GDBCO “Six percent of pilots today are women which hasn’t changed since the 1920s,” said Pretorius. One thing that has changed is the perception of women as pilots. While it is still a very unique career for women, questions are not raised about a females ability as they once were. “I’m grateful to be a women in this time,” said Pretorius. “When you love what you do people can tell and you gain their respect as their pilot,” said Pretorius. She finds that people are often excited to see women in the pilots seat. “If you can do your job well, respectfully, with professionalism, it doesn’t matter if your male or female,” said Tarutani. “Society has become empowering towards women.” Each of the women have found their niche in teaching flight lessons out of the Wayne County airport and have found great joy and accomplishment in teaching students to fly. “It builds your ego once you train your student to fly like you,” said Pretorius. All three women agree that flying is like nothing else. Being grounded for a week is not an option for these ladies as they are always looking for excuses to escape to the freedom of the sky. As they reflect on their careers in aviation they can’t help but smile as they talk about their experiences. It’s not hard to see that these three women have found a career they are truly passionate about.
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