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November 30, 2009 — It was just a comment made by her father. But it was enough to get Jessica Miller thinking.
“Maybe you could be the first to finish,” Tim Miller had told his daughter, referencing the Fly Minnesota Airports program that aims to promote general aviation by encouraging pilots to land at each of the 136 airports in the state.
“Why not?” Jessica remembers thinking. But then “why not” has been Jessica’s mantra.
Jessica (EAA 857267) began flight lessons at 15˝, soloed at 16, and earned her private pilot license at 17. She’s now 19.
Shortly after, Jessica started flying to various airports, stopping and going inside to get the program’s Passport stamped. On some days she’d fly to 10 different airports. She also attended six safety seminars, and all six aviation museums in Minnesota, where she gathered more stamps for her Passport.
She made the last landing at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on August 21, flying her family’s 1968 Mooney M20G. That last stop put her in the history books as the first pilot to land at all of Minnesota’s publically owned airports.
“It was a strange feeling,” she recalls. “You’re going into this huge airport, yet it is the same as flying into any other towered airport. It was little more detailed … but it was essentially the same.” (Except for landing behind an Airbus, that is.)
On that flight, Jessica also had a special passenger — her grandfather. “It was the first time I had given my grandpa an airplane ride,” she says. “We are both very talkative so there were times I had to tell Grandpa to be quiet. I could hear ATC taking to me, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.”
While Jessica says she has no favorite airport in Minnesota, she does remember one where weather kept her stranded for two days. She and a friend landed the family’s Tri-Pacer in Hallock, and decided to stay overnight. “When we woke up the next morning, the ceiling was 400 feet. I knew we were not going anywhere.”
There was a car at the airport with keys in it, and Jessica assumed it was OK to use it. They drove into town, which had a restaurant and bowling alley, and hung out at the bowling alley for the day.
“When we told him (alley owner) what we were doing, he gave us half off the price of bowling,” she recalls. “But by the end of the day, it was free bowling.”
Jessica says it was fun to see all the different airports and the different facilities. “At one, you landed on a grass strip, and the stamp was inside a mailbox attached to a pole.”
Another time she flew to an airport, only to find out she couldn’t land to get her stamp because snow was still on the runways from a storm a few days earlier.
It was through the Fly Minnesota Airports program that Jessica first heard about the 2009 Air Race Classic. Before long, Jessica knew she had to compete in the nine-leg race, which went from Colorado to Kansas, down through Texas, back through Tennessee, Illinois and Wisconsin, before ending in Iowa.
“We had four days to complete the 2,400 nautical mile race, and we could only fly day VFR,” she recalls.
Jessica competed in her father’s 1968 Mooney. “We were doing really well … and with 84 miles left to go to Racine I lost the magneto,” she recalls. She flew to Racine on just one magneto, which meant she had to fly slower. She called her father, an AP mechanic and pilot, who immediately began searching for a replacement part. He found the part and after finishing work that day, flew to Racine to deliver it.
Jessica and her crew finished the race, taking 7th place out of the 32 racers. “That’s not bad since we were all first-time racers on my crew,” Jessica points out. “We were just so excited to be in the top 10. It was an amazing experience and I was told that I was the youngest racer to ever complete the race.”
Jessica says she won’t be competing in the 2010 race — she needs to focus on getting her instrument rating instead — but she does know she will be back to race again.
Currently a student at St. Cloud State University, Jessica competed in October’s National Intercollegiate Flying Association competition. She was named the top female pilot out of 10 in her region.
Jessica isn’t sure what’s next for her, but she knows whatever it is, it will revolve around aviation.
“I love flying. But as much as I love flying, I love talking about flying,” she says. “I love sharing my experiences and other people’s experiences and trying to spread the spirit of aviation so that it will continue.”
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Jessica Miller poses with her Fly Minnesota Airport passport. In August, she became the first pilot to complete the program and fly to all of Minnesota’s 136 airports. Photo courtesy of Jessica Miller
Jessica Miller poses by her father’s Mooney M20G, in which she competed at the 2009 Air Race Classic. Her team took seventh place out of the 32 teams. Photo courtesy of Jessica Miller
Jessica Miller got her high school senior photo taken with an airplane. She is now attending St. Cloud State University. Photo courtesy of Jessica Miller
Jessica Miller pictured with her father, Tim Miller of Hutchinson, Minnesota, after she completed her first solo in December 2006. Photo courtesy of Jessica Miller
Jessica Miller gets her photo taken with aerobatic performer Julie Clark when she attended the EAA Air Academy.
Photo courtesy of Jessica Miller
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