Debrief /

Judy Phelps says her students are shocked when they learn that she once hated stalls and was afraid to fly by herself. And that’s no surprise: Phelps, the 2011 FAA Flight Instructor of the Year, is an accomplished aerobatic and tailwheel instructor. Her husband, Clay Phelps, owns CP Aviation at Santa Paula Airport (SZP) in California. He runs the maintenance department; she handles the flight training department. She learned upset recovery techniques from one of the best in the industry—Rich Stowell, who operates a specialized training course out of Santa Paula.

WHO: Judy Phelps

OCCUPATION: Flight instructor

HOURS: Just more than 6,200

EXTRA: Phelps keeps a photo of Audrey Hepburn on her phone with a quote from the actress: “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, ‘I’m possible.’”

GETTING STARTED…In 1991 or 1992, I was working at [a restaurant] at Santa Paula Airport, and I met Clay. On one of our first dates, we went camping and took the airplane. I just didn’t like sitting there not knowing anything about flying. We got married in 1994 and I decided I needed to learn.

EARLY CHALLENGES…I was afraid. I was terrified of doing stalls. The other challenge was, it took me five years of starting and stopping [to finish the private certificate]. I see that with people who come to the flight school now: life, you get sick, weather issues. I didn’t like flying by myself because I was afraid I’d encounter a situation I couldn’t handle. After taking Rich Stowell’s emergency maneuvers [techniques] course, I learned airplanes don’t fall out of the sky when you stall. Just being in those unusual attitudes was empowering and it helped me get over the fears I had.

HARDEST LESSONS…Flaring—learning where the ground was.

AVIATION ACTIVITY…Doing aerobatics—I love that. It’s so neat to be able to take off, go out to our practice area, and have the time of your life, and be back here in point six.

FAVORITE AIRPLANE…My Pitts S2B. [But] I like a lot of airplanes, it depends on what I’m going to do. Yesterday I flew a Cessna 150 at lunch; I like it because I don’t need anybody to help me push it.

ADVICE FOR STUDENTS…Never, never give up. Learning to fly changed my life in a lot of ways. Something it taught me is you can do anything you put your mind to if you don’t give up. I’ve had students spend 100 hours before soloing, and they didn’t give up, and they went on to become good pilots.

Phelps learned to fly with her father-in-law, a World War II veteran with a 60-year aviation career.