I went through a pretty serious health struggle a several years ago. I was basically bedridden for most of 2015. Coming out of it, I decided I wanted to travel more (which I did- I’m at 27 countries), finish my Bachelors degree (which I also did), and I asked myself if I could do anything every day, what would I do? And I came up with flying helicopters.
So that’s what I’m doing now. I’m working on my instrument and commercial simultaneously, I have almost 100 hours, and sometimes I fly planes for fun. But helicopters are the goal.
The biggest struggle has been paying for it all. But I’m a really hard worker, the last several years I’ve worked in a nightclub bartending and doing bottle service to finance my school, travels, and helicopter school.
I think people get in to aviation for a lot of different reasons, but if it is something that you’re interested or passionate about- with hard work, you can get it done.
Rachel is from Palm Beach and flies with Palm Beach Helicopters in the US. You can follow her adventures on Instagram @rachthepilot. Thank you for your testimonial in this industry, I hope it leads to other girls finding the inspiration and strength to becoming pilots !