By Mary Knippel

Photos courtesy of Sue Ballew.

Superman, Amelia Earhart and Bay Area resident Sue Ballew share a passion for flying. As a child growing up in Southern California, Ballew would search the sky for planes from nearby John Wayne Airport. “I can remember spotting airplanes when I was 3 years old and pointing up to the sky,” she said. “Later on, I’d be one of those kids who would tie a towel round my shoulders like a cape and pretend I was Superman.”

Work in her aunt’s florist shop led Ballew to pursue a degree in horticulture, which resulted in a landscaping business. But having such a thoroughly grounded business with 35 employees didn’t keep her from wanting to spread her wings. “I was looking around for something fun to do,” Ballew said, “an adventure.” And that looking-around led her to her new career. “I sold my company of 20 years to pursue my dream of flying,” she said. “It’s the ultimate challenge to pilot an airplane. … Flying opens up a whole new world  of opportunity. You have to be disciplined in order to get that freedom. But once you learn how to fly, especially if you learn in the Bay Area, you can fly anywhere in the U.S.”

Through personal experience, Ballew discovered just how important a good instructor is when learning to fly. “I got to the point of soloing,” she said, recalling an early incident. “I got lost and couldn’t find the airport. The tower eventually talked me down … I realized I needed an instructor who could teach me in more detail how to find myself if I ever got lost. They were short on instructors and so I  quit for eight years.”

Eventually, she found an instructor who helped her learn the art of pilotage, navigating by landmarks as well as instruments, and she never got lost again. That’s also when she decided to become an instructor in order to help other pilots learn how to find their way by recognizing a freeway, an airport or a body of water. “Even if they think they know where they are,” she said,  “I want them to know every single landmark so if they ever have a problem, they’ll know what to do.”

Although she has taught students as young as 10 years old, students must be 16 before they can solo, and 17 before they can get a license. “I try to encourage everyone that I meet who has ever thought about flying to see that it’s really possible,” she said. Ballew believes that almost anyone who wants to be a pilot can indeed do so. Becoming a pilot involves “being conscientious, taking it seriously – and also having fun.”

Ballew is more than a flight instructor; she also pilots Bay Area sightseeing flights. Passengers in the front seat next to the pilot have a chance to take the controls and experience flying the plane on both the introductory training flights and on the Bay Area tours.

When asked what she likes best about flying, Ballew replied, “the view!” As a professional pilot for American Airlines, she flew to destinations in the Mediterranean and the Bahamas while based in Puerto Rico and then Miami. “The views were    absolutely fantastic,” she said.

Ballew is the Santa Clara Valley Chapter chairwoman of The Ninety-Nines, a non-profit organization whose members have experience flying every type of aircraft from the space shuttle to tail-draggers. The first meeting was held in 1929, with 26 women pilots in attendance; in 1931, Amelia Earhart was elected as the first president. The organization’s name comes from the number of charter members; since then, membership has grown to more than 5,000 licensed women pilots from 36 countries. Local chapters sponsor hundreds of educational programs each year, including aerospace workshops for teachers, airport tours for school children, and fear-of-flying   clinics for airline passengers.

“I didn’t start flying until later in life,” Ballew said, “because I didn’t relate flying like Superman to flying an airplane. So when I finally realized I could fly an airplane, I took flying lessons.” These days she’s the one providing professional flight instruction at Palo Alto, San Carlos and Hayward airports.

For more information about Ballew, visit her Web site at www.skytrekker.net.<–>