From a flat tire to forever
How two pilots found love, purpose, different paths in aviation
A guy was on the ramp filling the flat tire with air. Friedman remembers thinking, "Oh, he's pretty cute." That guy was Isaac Stone.
Mark Lee Priglmeier, owner and chief flight instructor at CreateLift Aviation in Deerwood, Minnesota, noticed the dynamic right away. "It was pretty incredible to watch. Isaac is quiet. Kerry has Disney-character energy—always happy," Priglmeier said. "Nothing got her down. 'I can do this' is a huge standout."
Their first real adventure together came through flying. Stone disguised a fuel stop as a date, borrowed a courtesy car, and drove them to Charles A. Lindbergh State Park. Ice cream came first. Then hiking. Not long after, Stone and Friedman went airport camping at a tiny grass strip nestled between two lakes. Sitting under a clear sky that night, Stone says he realized then Friedman would eventually become his partner in life.
Later, Stone found his proposal spot from the air: untouched woods, quiet lakes, and a chapel on a peninsula with a hiking trail. "It just felt right," he said.
Their relationship mirrors something larger in aviation—that there isn't one path forward. Stone is building toward a career in aerial firefighting, stacking hours in tailwheel flying, seaplane flying, and agricultural operations. Friedman flies more for the joy of it. No rush toward commercial certification. Just adventure.
Although Friedman's goal differed from Stone's, she consistently pushed beyond her limits. Priglmeier doesn't just train students on checklists and landings; he incorporates spin training and challenges them to understand emergencies rather than avoid them. "They both want to be the best at what they do," Priglmeier noted. He watched Friedman and Stone grow—not just as pilots, but as partners—an outcome he calls one of the most rewarding parts of instruction. "There's nothing better than seeing students buy airplanes and go fly together," he said.
Friedman and Stone may fly together, but they're firmly grounded. They're getting married this March at the church where Friedman grew up and are planning, as she put it, "a home, a loving family, and maybe a runway and a hangar one day."
For Priglmeier, watching Friedman and Stone chart that path together has sparked the idea of creating a pilot dating application. Still, he sees it as one of those outcomes aviation occasionally produces: not just certificates or proficiency, but lasting connections formed through shared experience and timing.
