School and Community Fall 2022

FLY M any educators have used the idiom “the sky’s the limit” to motivate their students, but how many can say that they’ve actually soared solo beyond the clouds? As a certified pilot, Diane Vaughn has proven that the sky is not the limit. Vaughn is a veteran teacher from Poplar Bluff, Missouri who joined MSTA in 2008; however, her love for aviation dates back to the 90s. Accepting the Challenge to

burner. However, I did get to tag along on some of Jesse’s private flights. When we flew together, he would put me on tasks such as looking for traffic and monitoring frequencies,” Vaughn said. Eventually, in 2018, Vaughn began flight training again after her husband and a friend opened a much needed flight school in the area. “Jesse jokes that I was the longest-running student pilot he’s ever had,” she laughed. The process of learning to fly was rigorous and challenging in some ways for Vaughn. Much like teachers abide by the Missouri Learning Standards, the Airman Certification Standards set learning criteria for pilots. The several required tests were speedbumps that she navigated with skills she acquired in the classroom. “I struggled with certain aspects of training, especially with the mathematical concepts because of my dyscalculia,” Vaughn explained. “I had to study harder than most people because I had to figure out how to implement my own accommodations and workarounds to simplify calculations. This also made me a better planner and more organized, which I brought from aviation training back into my classroom.” Vaughn completed her first solo flight in May 2018 (on the same day that school let out for the semester), and then completed the checkride practical test through the Federal Aviation Administration later that summer. She is now one of only three female pilots based at the Poplar Bluff Airport. “According to the Pilot Institute statistics from 2021, women make up only 9.02% of all the pilots in the United States, ranging from students to airline pilots,” Vaughn revealed. “For a small airport like Poplar Bluff, it’s unusual to find one female pilot on the field, let alone a whopping three .”

BY LINDSAY JAMES, MSTA CREATIVE MEDIA SPECIALIST

“My first exposure to flight was when I was about 12 years old,” she said. “My dad and I attended a pancake breakfast in my hometown where some pilots were volunteering their planes and time for giving rides.” The moment young Vaughn lifted off the ground in that Piper Tri-Pacer aircraft, she was inspired. “I remember riding in the backseat of the plane, peering out the window and thinking how small everything looked. When we landed, I tried out a flight simulator, looked at the rest of the planes and talked with the pilots,” Vaughn mused. That day, she developed a longing to be in the sky – which persisted for years to come. As fate would have it, Vaughn met and fell in love with her now-husband, a pilot named Jesse, in 2001. “Jesse earned his private pilot license certificate when he was a senior in high school,” Vaughn explained. “He took me on a plane ride one night and it was then that I really became hooked on aviation. All it takes is one flight with your hands on the controls, and you’re completely enamored.” Vaughn soon began flight lessons in a red and white two-seater Cessna 150, the same plane her husband learned to fly in. Unfortunately, life got in the way and she wasn’t able to complete her training at the time and focused on her career as a teacher. “For about 17 years, I put my training on the back

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