Flying beyond expectations: Ashley Collins learns the power of believing in her dreams

By Steve Ritchie 

Think quickly: When was the last time you flew on an airplane that was flown by a female pilot?

If the question stumps you, don’t feel bad. Statistics show that only about 5 percent of the certified pilots in the United States are women, and that low percentage has not budged much since 1980.

Knowing those statistics, 19-year-old, newly-certified pilot Ashley Collins of Silverton accurately sees herself as something of a trailblazer in the aviation field.

She is eager to share how learning to fly has not only helped her grow and mature, but is also a viable career path for young women. A 2012 Silverton High School graduate, Collins said that in the past she was quite shy and not confident in her own abilities.

“I think my biggest challenge in learning to fly was in myself,” Collins said. “It was making sure that if something bad happened, that I didn’t have a pity party and think, ‘oh, poor me,’ but do something to turn it around.

“Flying has given me way more confidence than I ever had before. It’s so challenging and being able to do it just gave me so much more confidence in myself.”

Since doing her first flying lesson in February of this year, Collins has completed the required 40 hours of flight training – 10 of which had to be done solo – and passed the pilot certificate exam in September.

She is now a freshman at Lane Community College in the Lane Aviation Academy’s Maintenance Technician Program, which leads to an associate degree.

Completing the program at Lane should open up several potential job opportunities, Collins believes. Becoming a pilot on a passenger airline sounds good, but Collins said that is “way down the line,” after she gets a lot more experience flying.

“My goal is to fly, mostly, but I also want to be able to work on my plane. And I don’t want to do just one job for a long time. I want to be able to travel, and do different jobs. Maybe be a bush pilot in Alaska, maybe a rescue pilot for the Coast Guard.”

Collins developed an interest in flying while in high school, and with the help of her mom, Stephanie Kunkle, discovered the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles Program, which provides teenagers with an introduction to flying. The program gave Collins an opportunity to go up in a two-seat experimental aircraft for a 40-minute flight, and she was hooked. Soon after, she joined a group of eight other young people in building a small plane at the Independence Airport with the help of an instructor.

Wayne Nutsch, owner of Nutsch Aviation in Independence, was the pilot on that first flight and has been a willing mentor to Collins ever since. A former Vietnam War helicopter pilot who has been flying for 50 years, Nutsch said he wasn’t going to let Collins “fall through the cracks” or let financial need keep her from realizing her dream.

“Right from the start I knew she had a keen interest in flying,” Nutsch said. “We like her. Ashley’s a very kind person. We have a plane for her to fly anytime the weather is good.”

With the help of Nutsch and other flying enthusiasts like the Ninety-Nines, an international association of women pilots, Collins has received several scholarships to help with the cost of flying lessons and education.

Collins’ mom has also helped her every step of the way. Her pride in Ashley’s airborne accomplishments is hard for her to contain. “I have never met a more determined young lady,” Stephanie Kunkle says. “I am so proud of her. Me being a single mom, we have gone through some tough times. Instead of getting knocked down by these hard times, she used them as motivation to get somewhere better.”

“I didn’t care how long it took, or how much it cost,” Collins said. “I knew that someday I was going to become a pilot.”

Her determination to fly led her to get a job as an aide in the assisted living unit at Mount Angel Towers to earn money to help pay for her lessons. The job not only gave her a paycheck, but also provided another supporter and mentor in the person of the late Army Air Force Captain John Ritchie, a resident at the Towers. Collins cared for the 94-year-old, and, in turn, got treated to his stories of flying a C-47 and dropping paratroopers during World War II.

“All the stories he told me, and what a great person he was, made me excited for the things that I am going to do in the future,” Collins said.

Collins told Ritchie that when she became a certified pilot she wanted to take him up with her on a flight. It never happened, as he passed away a couple of months before she passed her pilot’s exam, but their conversations about the plan helped to greatly brighten his last few months.

Another unforgettable experience occurred three days after passing her exam.  She took her mom up for her first ride in a Cessna 150, and made a few loops around the area, including passing over the house where her grandmother and step-grandfather, Walter White, lived. A former pilot, White was suffering from illness.

Kunkle snapped a photo as they passed over the house. Within a few minutes, as they were landing, Kunkle’s phone began to buzz with text messages, and she discovered that White had just died.

Kunkle noticed later in looking at the time of the first text, and the time on the photo she took, that he had passed away at the exact moment they were over the house.

On a recent unseasonably warm November Sunday, Collins strolled down First Street in Silverton, and stopped to pose for a photo in front of the mural of Bessie Halladay, who has a prominent place in Silverton’s history. Hallady was the “aviatrix,” who, according to the mural caption, in 1938 “landed her custom Alexander Eaglerock on the grass airstrip to pick up the city’s first airmail delivery.”

Collins wonders aloud what it might take to someday re-open the Silverton airport. That might be a long-shot, but you would be advised not to bet against this determined woman and her passion for flying.