Winner of pilot scholarship to fly in 2016 Okie Derby
Last year’s Wings of the Future Scholarship winner will pay it forward this weekend by flying in the air rally that funds the award.
Staff Sgt. Courtney Neill, a member of the Oklahoma Air National Guard, was awarded the $5,000 scholarship last summer.
“It was a huge help. It knocked out my ground school and a good part of my flight training,” Neill said.
She lacks only 10 hours to earn her private pilot’s license.
Neill and her husband, also a pilot, will fly together in the 38th annual Okie Derby Proficiency Air Rally, which begins and ends Saturday at Sundance Airport, near NW 122 and Sara Road.
The world’s largest proficiency air rally is sponsored by the local chapter of the Ninety-Nines, the international organization of women pilots.
It brings pilots together to test their aviation skills and to raise money for the Wings of the Future Scholarship — more than $95,000 since its inception.
How it works
Men and women pilots compete alone or in two-person teams.
Entrants predict their fuel usage during flight and elapsed time to fly the course, which passes over Chickasha, Holdenville and Guthrie before heading back to the airport in west Oklahoma City.
The pilot who comes closest to the predictions wins the rally, a trophy and 50 gallons of aviation fuel.
It’s not too late to enter the event, said Heather Dirksen, 2016 Okie Derby chairwoman. Pilots can find registration information at www.okiederby. com.
Flying for work, play
Dirksen was working as an air traffic controller and just starting on her private pilot certification when she won the scholarship.
“It got the ball rolling,” said Dirksen, who spent a couple of seasons on the Discovery Channel’s show “Airplane Repo.”
She and her pilot husband eventually want to own their own airplane and expand the reach of their landscaping business, she said.
Neill said her goal is to be a helicopter pilot for an Oklahoma police force.
She volunteers now as a Pottawatomie County reserve deputy.
She and her husband, Derek Neill, enjoying flying together.
“It’s our family thing. We have a son, and we fly with him, too,” she said.
Three-year-old Preston has been flying with his parents since he was an infant. “He really enjoys it,” Neill said.