Susan Carastro
Caring for animals and airplanes
When your mother, at age 94, is still flying and has been your co-pilot for numerous Air Race Classics; when she participated in her first ARC in 1960 (then called the Powder Puff Derby); when she bought her first airplane, a Cessna 140, in 1959; and when your father flew in the U.S. Air Force…you would “be disowned” if you didn’t learn to fly, says Susan Carastro. “I was born into aviation.”
Photography by David Tulis.
Carastro has flown with her mother, Marie, 20 times in the ARC, earning the moniker “The Flying Carastros” when her niece and Marie’s granddaughter Danielle joined the team in 2016.
“There is nothing better than sharing the sky with my family and meeting so many people along the way that I now consider my extended aviation family. The race route changes every year and challenges my skills,” she says.
Carastro is a veterinary ophthalmologist and owner of Animal Eye Specialty Clinic in Florida. Animal Eye Specialty Clinic has five locations including Melbourne, Stuart, West Palm Beach, Deerfield Beach, and North Miami.
Born in Montgomery, Alabama, Carastro’s father, Bob, was her flight instructor. “My dad was my instructor and taught me and my brother how to fly. My dad flew in the air force and then for the department of air transportation for the state of Alabama. My mom got her pilot’s license, joined Civil Air Patrol, and bought a Cessna 140 in 1959. My mom and dad met at Craig Air Force Base where he was stationed, and she was on a Civil Air Patrol mission. They both were awarded the Master Pilot Award. And my brother, Michael Carastro, is a professional pilot and owns a flight school in Biloxi, Mississippi.”
Carastro met HGTV star Bryan Baeumler (see “Flying With Bryan,” November 2023 AOPA Pilot) and the two became friends. She has served as a mentor to him, helped him buy his 1982 Cessna 172P from her brother in Biloxi, and the pair recently bought a Republic RC–3 Seabee. The families have become intertwined through their love of aviation and animals. Baeumler’s son Quintyn is an equestrian and Carastro cares for the horses at Wellington International where he trains. Recently, Carastro helped Bauemler’s daughter Josephine with the care of a couple of adopted ducks.
Related Articles
