School and Community Fall 2022

In addition to the Cessna 150, Vaughn also flies a low-wing Piper Cherokee 140 and is in the process of restoring a 1961 Piper Cherokee 160 with her husband. Access to these aircrafts allows the couple to partake in epic adventures. “Once I flew friends down to Memphis where we landed at Dewitt-Spain Airport, visited the zoo, enjoyed the Bass Pro pyramid and took a skyline tour of the downtown area,” Vaughn said. However, not all flights have to be long distance to be exciting. As a self-proclaimed “weekend warrior” pilot, Vaughn usually flies within the southern Missouri region. “I can fly to Lambert’s Café in Sikeston in about 30 minutes,” she noted. “The restaurant will actually send out a vehicle to the airport to pick us up and bring us in the back door to sit at a table with no waiting! Some airports hold fly-in events where you can fly over to eat food, attend safety seminars and befriend other pilots.” The comradery within the aviation community is a large benefit to Vaughn — she claims that when they are not flying, they are talking about flying. When her husband witnessed her explain topics such as airspace and decoding weather reports to students, he and a friend decided to create a class for

Vaughn to help up-and-coming pilots study for their certifications at the local airport. She sprang into action and applied her K-12 teaching background to design a class for adults. “Before I earned my ground instructor certificate, I would not have considered teaching adults because I was more comfortable with teaching sixth-graders,” she admitted. “I discovered that some flight students have issues comprehending learning materials, much like students in my own classroom. So, I took the AGI test and designed a class from scratch based on the flight school’s preferred curriculum. I used my own books as a guide, in addition to free materials from the FAA and my background as a teacher, to create an entire weekend-long course.” Aviation students from near and far began enrolling in Vaughn’s instructional class, which vary between one-on-one and group sessions. “I can sympathize with the students who want to complete their training, but testing is the one thing holding them up,” she said, reflecting on her own journey to becoming a pilot. “I still present a similar course every third weekend of the month in Dexter.” Vaughn soon found that the similarities

between her classes at the school and the airport were abundant. “Flight training taught me how to remain level-headed in emergency situations. We train heavily on handling in-flight emergencies through simulated engine failures and the number one rule is always fly the airplane, ” Vaughn detailed. “I had a student with a medical emergency in my school classroom once and, while my first instinct was to panic, I was able to push that aside and take action thanks to my emergency operations training. Additionally, I could better evaluate classroom management procedures and revamp them to make my class flow more efficiently.” Through all adversity, Diane Vaughn accepted the challenge to fly — both in the air and in the school setting. Whether soaring solo or sharing her flight with someone, she is thankful to simply fly and enjoy the view. “Few words can describe how it feels to witness the ground shrinking behind me as I slip the surly bonds of the earth,” Vaughn said. “To quote author Antoine De Saint Exupery, ‘I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things.’”

S&C FALL 2022 | 31