AMY SPICER’S RISE IN THE WORLD OF AVIATION
Amy Spicer isn’t your average 11-year-old. By the time she reached double digits she was already learning to fly, publishing her own magazine and rubbing shoulders with Red Bull Air Racing pilots — that’s quite the resume. Amy is determined to pave the way for young women in aviation.
We caught up with Amy for an interview during her school holidays, and despite her initial shyness, it was clear that Amy is mature beyond her years and has a deep passion for flying. As I cast my mind back to when I was 11, I can’t believe what she has managed to achieve in the very short time she has walked this earth.
Her fascination with planes began as a toddler, growing up under the flight path of Brisbane Airport. Today, Amy lives near Perth’s Jandakot Airport, where she is steadily working towards her goal of a lifelong career in the skies. “It’s hard when you have a 5 or 6-yearold daughter and she says ‘this is what I want to do’, to know whether it’s a passing fad or interest,” said her mother, Kylie. But Kylie was very supportive of her interests (having a tiny bit of experience in GA herself) and was able to expose Amy to some incredible flying experiences at a young age.
Her first flying experience was in the passenger seat of a Foxbat at the age of 7 in Batemans Bay, New South Wales. Kylie had chosen this type of flying experience so that Amy could look out the side of the Perspex doors – she was so small, she could hardly see over the dashboard of the cockpit! Amy was having such a fabulous time, so much so that the pilot asked if she’d like a go at the controls, and they stayed up in the air well beyond the amount of time that Kylie had paid for. For her eighth birthday, Amy was keen to try gliding – the only setback was that Amy was still so small that she didn’t weigh enough to meet requirements. But the Adelaide Soaring Club did everything they could to get her in that glider for her birthday. That meant adding special weight, modifying the seats and all sorts of things with the Safety Officer to make it happen. “They went above and beyond, it was just amazing,” said Kylie. Instead of staying just one night in Adelaide, they stayed for an entire week where Amy tagged along on other flights, including high-level aerobatics. By the time Amy touched back down on the ground, she was asking to go again! “I was actually a lot more excited than I would have ever been scared, especially with the aerobatics, that was so much fun,” said Amy.
From that moment on, Amy was hooked. Kylie started contacting flight schools; the aim was to find someone who would work with Amy to help keep her passion alive until such time that she could start regular flying lessons.
“As a parent, I was literally told that I was wasting my money,” Kylie recalls, after being rejected by numerous flight schools. “We’ve had people laugh in our face. After the second or third rejection, most people would just give up. How many other families or girls are giving up and walking away? We were told ‘come back when you’re older if she’s still interested.”” It was disheartening for them both that nobody would give Amy a chance. “I was told ‘you’re too small… you’re a girl… you can’t do that… go and do ballet or netball,’” said Amy. The more rejections, the more determined they became. They started actively pursuing female instructors and female Head of Flight Operations at different companies. But with the support of her mother, Amy persisted. After knocking on 18 doors, they eventually found a mentor in Megan Gray, Head of Flying Operations at a small aviation company. Megan, having received a similar opportunity when she was young, took Amy under her wing, helping her navigate the world of aviation.
Amy started an age-appropriate and modified version of flight training with Megan in a Cessna 152. To fly, Amy needed to do her own pre-flight checks, but how does someone so young understand and remember such a complex process? Kylie photographed every step of Amy’s pre-flight check, that way for future flights she had a simple prompt to help guide her around the plane at what she must look at. Very soon after and with a bit of practice, Amy no longer needed the photo prompts and she would do the pre-checks like any other adult pilot would. This kind of age-appropriate learning has allowed Amy to flourish and learn so much about flying.
Through this experience, however, Amy has also discovered the lack of representation of women in aviation. Amy was quite horrified to discover that only about 5% of pilots are female. It was an early lesson in percentages. She was told to imagine a line of 100 people and only 5 those are girls.
Amy’s immediate response was, “but why aren’t there more?!” And that’s how Girls Can Fly Anything was born. This is the name of her self-produced magazine, designed as a platform to showcase the stories and achievements of female pilots. It’s also a tool of inspiration to encourage more young females into the industry. Amy handles the majority of the magazine herself – from brainstorming ideas and conducting interviews to typing articles and dealing with the local printer, producing up to 350 copies per edition. “We get a lot of phone calls and emails, especially from parents calling us for help and guidance,” says Kylie who is happy to help other parents navigate the pathways for their children in aviation.
The magazine has opened up a plethora of opportunities and experiences for Amy, as she attends aviation events around the country and expands her little black book of aviation contacts. She has interviewed females from diverse backgrounds, from hot air balloon pilots, to wing walkers and aviation engineers. “Matt Hall always wants a copy for their coffee table,” said Amy casually. One of Amy’s biggest idols is Emma McDonald, who is Matt Hall’s racing partner, full time pilot and Operations Manager at Matt Hall Racing. Emma is super enthusiastic about encouraging girls and has built a special rapport with Amy – so much so that Emma once redesigned her aerobatic flight sequence especially for Amy.
Another of Amy’s idols is Ash Ricardo. Whilst not technically a pilot, Ash is an actress and stars as one of the pilots in the Australia Drama RFDS which centres around the lives of workers for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Amy’s dream is to become an RFDS pilot and she regularly follows their aircraft around on Flightradar24. As Kylie put it, Amy “wants the dirty runways, the night flying and the rough weather”. “To be a pilot helping retrieve a sick or injured patient would be a great team to be a part of,” said Amy, as she looks forward to the future. Amy is taking her career goals seriously, having just started Year 7 at Melville Senior High School which offers Aviation Specialist programs. The school is just one of two in the country that have an MOU with Qantas Pilot Academy and has very competitive entry requirements. Year 7 and 8 students study aviation two hours a week and by Year 9 they are doing up to four hours of aviation in the classroom. “I’m currently learning helicopter aerodynamics and flying little drones through obstacle courses,” said Amy.
Amazingly, their classroom teachers are also pilots and instructors themselves. Once students reach Year 9 and pre-solo age, they can leave the grounds with their teacher for a flying lesson at Jandakot Airport — now that’s pretty cool!
Outside of school, flying and magazine commitments there isn’t much time for other hobbies, but Amy has picked up swimming as a way to decompress from her busy lifestyle. “When I’m swimming, I can turn my brain off and I can’t think about the rest of the world,” said Amy. Having spoken to those in the AeroMed industry, Amy knows this will be an important skill for her career. Amy has also tried Aerial Yoga at a circus school to help her with situational awareness in case she wants to pursue aerobatic flying. So even when Amy is doing things ‘for fun’ they are still strategic pursuits to help prepare her for a career in flying. Amy’s one piece of advice to other young girls is “don’t listen to the ‘no’ people”. And if you’ve read this far, make sure you share Amy’s story with another female in your life – a daughter, a niece, or a granddaughter — as it might just be the inspiration they need to kick down their own doors and start their own journey in aviation.
This certainly isn’t the last time you’ll hear the name Amy Spicer! We will be following Amy’s flying journey over the coming years as she continues her flight training and pursuit of her career dreams. Stay tuned for Amy’s contributions in future editions of SportPilot. You can read her first column in this magazine.
