Jenny Hurst
Sundowner Aviation
LANCASTER – Learning to fly is no easy feat, but Lancaster native Jenny Hurst was not going to let being deaf stop her from taking to the sky.
From a young age, Hurst dreamed of being a pilot like her grandfather, a captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. She has always been drawn to flying, she said, and before 9/11, one of her favorite things to do was to watch planes take off from Port Columbus International Airport. In her younger years, she went as far as telling boyfriends plane-watching was her preferred way to spend a date.
Aware of that desire, Hurst’s husband of 17 years, Adam, looked into flight lessons at Sundowner Aviation at the Fairfield County Airport for his wife, who has been deaf since the age of 2. Officials there agreed to take her on, and one year later, after fitting in two to three hours of flight instruction per week, Hurst got her pilot license. She took her first solo flight July 18.
On Sunday, Hurst took her family up in the plane for the first time, although the family of six could not all fit in one flight. Hurst hopes to become registered in instrument flight rules so she can be allowed to fly larger planes that will fit her entire family.
Another use for the pilot license may be flying materials from suppliers to Hammock Gear, the backpacking outfitter the Hursts own in Lancaster. While Hurst would love to be a pilot for hire, she said she is still exploring her limits as a deaf pilot and her abilities with communication.
“The perks of being self employed are choosing your own hours,” Hurst said.
She has been able to juggle the business, teaching part-time at Ohio University Lancaster, flying lessons and being a mother of four. Hurst teaches sign language interpretation at OU and said she hopes to inspire her students and show them they have few limitations despite their hearing impairments.
“People ask me how I do it, and I say that I don’t watch TV,” Hurst said. “I never sit down.”
Hurst has had cochlear implants since 2001. Even with the implants, communication with air traffic control is a struggle, but it’s something she’s been able to work through. She will ask controllers to repeat themselves if she has difficulty understanding them.
And during instruction school, Patrick Sullivan went above and beyond the call of duty of an instructor, Hurst said. He quickly learned important signs and letters of the alphabet in American Sign Language to aid in talking with Hurst when they were up in the air.
“(Instructors) can make or break your experience,” Hurst said. “I got really lucky.”
After thoroughly searching, Hurst said she and Sullivan have been unable to identify any more than three licensed female, deaf pilots in the country, although she said she believes there are likely more. But even if she is one of only three female pilots, Hurst said she doesn’t see herself as any more accomplished than any other pilot.
“If I want something and I want to pursue it, I think I have to work extra hard at it, more so than hearing people. But, to consider it more of an accomplishment than anybody else? No, not really,” Hurst said. “It’s just something I wanted to do.”
Story and photo: http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com
No comments:
Post a Comment