|
Lancaster, Calif. – June 8, 2006 – By age eight, she was a Young Eagle and known as the world’s youngest “ace”. By age 11, she flew faster than the speed of sound. Now that 23-year-old Katrina Mumaw graduated as a Second Lieutenant from the U.S. Air Force Academy, just imagine what she can do next.
The Lancaster, Calif. native graduated May 31 with a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science/human factors engineering, and after a 60-day break, will head to Scott AFB in Illinois for Introduction to Flight Training and then onto Vance AFB in Oklahoma in July 2007 for Undergraduate Pilot Training.
Her ultimate goal hasn’t changed since she was a little girl — to become a test pilot and astronaut. But for now, she’s concentrating on the small steps that must be completed before she can become a U.S. Air Force pilot.
Katrina says she wanted to be a pilot since she was three and met Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan after one of their last test flights of the Voyager, which now hangs in the National Air and Space Museum’s “Milestones of Flight” gallery as the first plane to fly nonstop around the world without refueling.
While many chose careers as youngsters, few actually stick to those. Katrina got her first airplane ride at five, and once she found out about the Air Force Academy, she became determined to go to school there.
“I knew what I wanted to do,” she said. “I put a lot of effort into getting good grades, doing extracurricular activities, volunteering and competing in sports.” After graduating from high school, Katrina was accepted into the Air Force Academy, but a week before she was to report, her appointment was withdrawn because of a dental malocclusion. She immediately started to reapply, and was admitted the following year.
But while many things have come easily to Katrina, life at the academy was challenging, she admits.” I came from a public high school and it wasn’t ridiculously hard to get decent grades. But at the academy I was surrounded by people who did at least as well as I had. And not only were you taking classes, but you had the military aspect of things.” That could mean training on the weekend, or having your room or uniform inspected any time.
Despite all the time she’s spent in airplanes, Katrina doesn’t have her pilot’s license. “In high school I decided to work on getting my appointment to the Air Force Academy, rather than working on getting my pilot’s license,” she explains. “I didn’t want to take the time away from my studies.”
For now, she’s happy to take little steps as she moves toward a career. “I’ll do as well as I can and see what happens,” she says.
Katrina, however, does have some advice for others interested in a career in aviation. “Go after your dream, even if people are telling you that you can’t,” she says. “I had upper classmen at the academy who didn’t think I would make it through the first year, let alone graduate. But you can’t stop believing in yourself.”
Katrina’s life at a glance
- She became an EAA Young Eagle on March 13, 1993, with volunteer pilot Jack Hakes in his RV-6
- She amassed the best record in mock aerial dog fighting in real planes at the Air Combat USA facility in Fullerton, Calif., the original civilian dogfighting school in the world. Only eight, she was the youngest to fly dogfights in real planes, beating adult pilots from all branches of the service who have flown planes including the F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, F/A-18 Hornet, F-117A Nighthawk and the A-10 Warthog.
- At age 11, she went to Russia by herself and piloted a MiG 29 faster than 940 mph or March 1.3. She became the first child ever to achieve speeds faster than sound.
- She was acknowledged by the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and featured on the TV program Ripley's Believe it or Not and Extreme Sport.
- In 1999, the Navy's Blue Angels, seeking to recruit her, invited her to the opening of the Navy's Flight Demonstration Air Show at El Cajon Ca. As VIPs, Katrina and her entourage were booked into the same hotel as the Blue Angels pilots and were a part of the official Naval Motorcade to the air show. After the show, Katrina, then 16, was allowed to climb up and peek inside an F-18 Hornet’s interior.
- She graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy on May 31.
|
|
Second Lieutenant Katrina Mumaw
Katrina appeared on the cover of EAA’s Sport Aviation for Kids magazine in 1993. Even then she had set her sights on a goal of being a test pilot and eventually an astronaut.
Katrina on Acceptance Day pinning shoulder boards on new C4C Zachary Zalneraitis of Cs18. Zachary was one of the 10 new C4C’s who asked Katrina to do the honors that day.
From www.usafaparents.org/assets/images/db_images/
Brig. Gen. Dana Born, Katrina’s father, Jim, Katrina, and Cadet Brian Vickers at the commissioning ceremony the night before graduation.
For More Information
United States Air Force Academy
Scott Air Force Base
Vance Air Force Base
Voyager
|
News Archive | Air Shows & Events | KidVenture | Young Eagles Newsletter
EMAIL
STORY
PRINTER
FRIENDLY
Privacy Policy 