Pilots

In our TV and couch potato age, we sometimes wonder whether there is anyone left who seeks adventure in person. Fortunately, aviation attracts some whose blood is more than merely dishwater. Those fascinating few demonstrate to the rest of us that to truly live life entails no small amount of determination to reach goals, plus a willingness to face adversity. Those few are rewarded with a much richer existence than most.

As a young girl, Terri Watson of Lander, Wyoming, climbed into the pilot's seat of an airplane and decided it was the place for her. Her mother said that when her feet could reach the pedals it would be time to learn to fly. Unfortunately, when the time came, there wasn't enough money for flying lessons. Determined, Watson found an Army aviation scholarship program through college ROTC that would pay for much of her tuition and provide a written guarantee that she would get flight training on graduation.

With a joint degree in geology/geophysics as well as sports medicine in hand, Watson proceeded to Fort Rucker, Alabama, where she went through rotary- wing training. After obtaining her Army wings, she was selected to transition to fixed-wing aircraft and given eight weeks to complete a commercial/instrument/multiengine course in the Army's version of the Beech Baron. On successful completion of the transition course she was assigned to Germany, where she checked out in the massive Grumman OV-1 Mohawk, a turboprop twin that, as she puts it, does wonderful aerobatics.

Watson reveled in flying Mohawks for several years while enjoying the opportunity to backpack and camp in the forests of Europe. As a captain, she faced the dilemma of all military pilots; further promotion would mean much less flying. She decided that it was time to move on but continued to serve her country in the Army National Guard flying fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft on a part-time basis. While in the Army she had picked up a master's degree, so her next logical step was a Ph.D. Watson stopped by the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Lander, Wyoming, and discovered that her love of the outdoors combined with her Army field and survival training qualified her to teach mountaineering, rock climbing, and other outdoor programs as well as lead weeks-long ventures into the wilderness.

She took a full-time position with NOLS, rising to branch director while still flying for the Guard. She found that she wanted to live in Lander and also make a living in general aviation, something that seemed impossible. To do so, civilian flight instructor ratings would be essential. Watson applied to American Flyers and the Whirly Girls for scholarships that allowed her to get fixed- and rotary-wing flight instructor certificates.

In 1997, Watson opened Winds Aloft Aviation. It was a seasonal operation; in the warmer months she gave flight instruction, flew sightseers and photographers over the mountains, provided pilot service in turbine airplanes and helicopters, and gave mountain-flying checkouts. She didn't feel Winds Aloft would be viable through the winter, so she contracted as a helicopter operations coordinator at McMurdo Base on Ross Island in Antarctica to support field research activity sponsored by the National Science Foundation. There she experienced helo operations in the foulest weather at some of the most remote sites imaginable.

After two seasons Winds Aloft had grown to the point she could no longer shut it down for the winter. She added a Part 135 charter operation supporting Wyoming's rural health care program that brings doctors to remote communities, as well as doing on-demand passenger flights. She does copilot duties on gigantic Sikorsky Skycrane helicopters. She helps the conservation organization LightHawk organize flights by its volunteer pilots over environmentally sensitive areas of the Rockies. When the rains stop, she flies fire recon for the Forest Service, supporting the firefighters by tracking the exact location of fires.

Because Watson has lived life a little fuller than most, pilots fly their aircraft to her for training in mountain and backcountry flying. She provides a graduate education in how to safely get the most out of an aircraft when you want to go where adventure beckons.