STEAD (Sept. 12) – Women are part of every racing team at the air races however, with few exceptions, few are pilots. But one team, Lewis Air Legends (www.lewisairlegends.com)
The crew discusses the next thing they’ll do to prepare the F7F Tigercat the Lewis team own for its next race.
Allie Hoyt (left) and Lindsey Coupe stand behind the Tigercat they are helping maintain at the air races.
, has two women helping on the mechanical side of the operation.
One has her A&P (Airframe and Power Plant.) certification while the other is working on earning hers. And both are volunteers working with the crew of La Patrona, an Unlimited F7F Tigercat owned by Rod Lewis.
Allie Hoyt is currently living in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“I got my private license six years ago, right when the economy decided to take a nose dive. I couldn’t find anybody to give me money to go to flight school so I wound up volunteering with a war bird operation in Fort Worth, called the Vintage Flying Museum,” she said. “They encouraged me to check out the local A&P school at Tarrant County College.”
After two years she took the test and earned her A&P Certificate. Now she is certified to work as a mechanic or maintenance technician on aircraft.
Asked how she got involved with the Lewis team Hoyt said, “Pete Blood, who has been involved with the team for several years and I used to work for the same company. We worked for Empire Airlines, I worked for the airline side and he worked for the aerospace side.”
Last summer they both met when Hoyt was at the corporate headquarters and she visited a hanger he has at a nearby field.
“We got talking, he told me about Reno, showed me all his picture books and said, ‘hey why don’t you think about coming out,’ so I made it,” she said.
The A&P field is male dominated and Hoyt explained that there are only 2 1/2% female certificated A&Ps.
She also expressed appreciation to those women that opened the field up for other females, as they didn’t have an easy time of it. This includes one of her mentors at Terrant County that was told she didn’t belong there.
“I have those women to thank for paving the way for me,” she said.
Asked if this would be a good field for a young woman to consider she said, “I think there are a lot of opportunities. You’ll be at a disadvantage some times but other times these things work to your advantage especially the way the industry is going. It’s a lot less about brute strength and a lot more about finesse, technical knowledge and that’s a place where women can have an advantage and men can have an advantage.”
Hoyt noted that it’s less about hostility and more about proving one’s self just like everyone else, male or female has to do.
Asked her advice to young women, she said, “Some fields are definitely where the future is and it’s really satisfying to be able to work with your hands and to be able to solve problems. I was never the kid that liked to take things apart and put them back together, but I really like solving puzzles.”
She explained that trouble-shooting is a big part of aviation and if a person is great at looking at a problem and thinking creatively that’s a huge asset.
“If you just enjoying solving problems then this is a business for you,” she said.
Hoyt is also involved with Share Aviation (www.shareaviation.com.).
We are geared to promoting general aviation and have had great success reaching out to the younger population, like Generation-X and beyond,” she said. “It’s a good place to get plugged in, to get involved and meet like minded people, who enjoy the same things. They’re very encouraging, very help and like the name says, we’re sharing aviation.”
Lindsey Coupe from Minneapolis is the second woman and she’s working toward earning her A&P Certificate.
“I started pretty young going to air shows and when ever you start going in and out of the airplanes, dad would pay the $5 and I went up inside of a couple bombers, like Fifi (The world’s only flying B29.) and Memphis Belle, the replica,” she said.
Climbing aboard these bombers with the sounds, smells and visuals of thing most people don’t usually get to see had a huge impact on her when she was little.
She grew up in a town close to Wichita, Kansas where her parent worked for Boeing.
“But my dad had the aviation bug before that and was just interested in it,” she said. “But I thought there’s no way to really become a pilot unless you go military because it’s not cost effective.”
While attending a small fly in Coupe met several pilots. In their discussions they told her that even golf is expensive and she needed to find a way to allocate money toward her get her time in.
“I did that and I got my private pilot two years ago,” she said.
When she is home, Coupe spends a much time hanging the local wing of the Commemorative Air Force that has a B-25.
“You know everybody looks at war birds and think it’s the elite inner circle. And I was lucky enough through the CAF to get involved and meet some folks.” she said.
Coupe found the organization was very welcoming and going to some air shows on the west coast like Chino and Reno broadened her interest. Then she was asked to come to Reno and help in any way she could.
“I’ve just kind of been a go getter and done whatever I can,” she said.
Working toward getting the hours needed to take the A&P exam she worked on a Stearman and the P-51 the win has.
“We have a C model, the Red Tail Mustang,” she said. “They were having some issued with the hydraulic line in the gear.”
She helped with the project and got more hours towards her goal.
Her advice to a young girl or woman thinking about aviation, Coupe said, “Get to know people, do what ever you can to get involved and slowly but surely you’ll realize that this aviation circle is more like family. And people are willing to help you out as much as possible but get involved in what ever you can as close to home as possible and you’ll work your way up.
“Pick your priorities, find a way to allocate some money to it and go after it.”
These two women are enjoying being in aviation as well as helping the Lewis team in any way they can.
