“There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.”
——From Women Fly

Women Fly: The Early Years 1978 to 1985, is an inspiring memoir by D. M. Dubay in which she shares her dreams of flying, a role that men usually occupied in that time period.

In 1971 the Dubay family—Bud, Darlene and their two young children, Adam and René —moved from Michigan to Alaska. Bud, a dentist, joined the U.S. Public Health Service as an Itinerant Dentist at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. With the children in school, Darlene had time to do something for herself. She signed up for a ground school course at a military flying club at Fort Richardson. She was hooked with her very first flying lesson.

From the first chapter the author describes her tenuous start, starting ground school and flight lessons at the same time. As she advanced in knowledge and flying skills, she gained confidence, practicing the four fundamentals of flight: straight-and-level flight, turns, climbs, and descents.

As she gained experience, more opportunities presented themselves. She was eager to fly solo but suffered anxiety and dread. The day finally came and she experienced her first solo flight, and from there achieved accomplishments and advancements to a variety of aircraft. Her husband Bud also became a pilot, a convenient necessity for his now private dental practice to places only accessible by air.

In addition to more practical skills, Darlene also learned aerobatic flying, fulfilling an impractical, but thrilling dream. She advanced her skills and ratings to become an instructor and finally achieved Air Transport Pilot rating. In her rapid advancement, she observed that as a woman she was sometimes treated differently. She found it challenging to be a woman in what many believed was a man’s world and was at times disheartened with male pilots’ attitude toward her. Dubay rightfully asks “Why do women have to be better just to have an equal chance?” To Darlene’s credit, she stood up for herself and proved she was equal to meet the many challenges of a professional flyer.

Darlene steadily plowed through advancement courses, each level proving to herself—and others—that she was a serious, competent pilot. Throughout the years the Dubays acquired their own airplanes, opening opportunities to explore parts of Alaska accessible only by air.

Women Fly is an extraordinary memoir of courage and self-fulfillment. I was impressed with her determination to achieve many advancements. I also appreciated the three Appendixes detailing abbreviations and acronyms, glossary of aviation terms, and charts of Alaska Terminal Area Rules. I look forward to her next memoir, Blocks on the Rudder Pedals: A Flying Memoir.