Published in Midwest Flyer Magazine October/November 2023 Digital Issue
Two members of EAA Chapter 64 have recently reached milestones. Diane Earhart, 66, EAA 762728, of Belleville, Illinois, has earned the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, marking the 50th anniversary of her first solo flight on February 27, 1973. The award was presented to her on April 22, 2023. Passing the flying torch, Earhart’s student, Mia Petruso, 16, EAA 1505930, of Waterloo, Illinois, made her first solo flight on May 13, 2023.
Diane Earhart with CFI Bob Vetter on February 27, 1973, when Earhart first soloed.
Diane Earhart with her Master Pilot Award.
The Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award is named in honor of Orville and Wilbur Wright who were two American aviation pioneers credited with inventing, building, and flying the world’s first successful motor-operated airplane. The award is the most prestigious award the FAA issues to civilian pilots. This award is to recognize individuals who have exhibited exemplary aviation expertise, distinguished professionalism, and steadfast commitment for at least 50 years of piloting experience.
Earhart joins approximately 7,500 other pilots listed on the Master Pilot Award Roll of Honor since the inception of the award on October 11, 2003.
Petruso is a 2023 recipient of EAA’s Ray Aviation Scholarship, sponsored by EAA Chapter 64 and AeroCareers, NFP.
Introduced in 2019, the EAA Ray Aviation Scholarship is named for James C. Ray, and the foundation created to carry on his legacy. Ray flew a B-17 during the D-Day invasion, and later became greatly involved in general aviation. He was awarded EAA’s Freedom of Flight Award in 1992.
The mission of the Ray Foundation is to encourage the development of human potential by supporting programs that develop the life skills of recipients, such as self-discipline, self-confidence, and self-reliance with a focus on aviation and aerospace.
Petruso is one of more than 230 scholars currently undergoing flight training nationally, and will join more than 220 other scholars who have earned a private pilot certificate through the Ray Aviation Scholarship Fund, which has a success rate of approximately 80-85%. Per scholarship requirements, Petruso must earn her private pilot certificate by the end of February 2024. However, Earhart and Petruso are hopeful for a 17th birthday checkride in November.
In addition to providing encouragement and support, each EAA chapter with a Ray scholar, appoints a scholarship coordinator to serve as the primary mentor for the scholar, reports the scholar’s flight training progress to EAA headquarters, and manages the scholarship funds disbursed to the chapter.
EAA Chapter 64’s scholarship coordinator is Bob McDaniel of Columbia, Illinois, who also wrote a recommendation letter supporting Earhart’s application for the Master Pilot Award. McDaniel called Earhart “a trusted friend” who is widely known in the aviation community for “her extensive pilot experience” and “willingness to share that experience by mentoring others.”
Recently, McDaniel asked Petruso, if learning to fly is fun. She enthusiastically answered, “Yes!” McDaniel further quizzed her, “Is it easy?” Equally empathically, Petruso answered, “No!” She was further asked, “Is it worth it?” Without hesitation, she assured McDaniel that it is.
McDaniel is also the founder of AeroCareers, NFP. The not-for-profit organization offers aerospace mentoring, networking, and education opportunities, and owns two Cessna 172 Skyhawks for use by flying club members. AeroCareers also owns and is restoring the Lancair Columbia 300, dubbed the New Spirit of St. Louis, flown trans-Atlantic by Erik Lindbergh. The flying club works closely with EAA Chapter 64, and many people, including Earhart and Petruso, are members of both organizations.
Earhart spent 30 years, eight months, and 10 days as an air traffic controller at St. Louis Downtown Airport in Cahokia Heights, Illinois. Following age-mandatory retirement, she remained a fixture at the airport where she was commonly known simply as “Diane-in-the-Tower,” working as the office manager at Big River Aviation and as a local flight instructor. Earhart acknowledges, “You can take the girl out of the tower, but can’t take the tower out of the girl!”
On a recent dual cross-country flight – Petruso’s first – Earhart was monitoring the activity on the approach control frequency. Petruso didn’t catch the exchange between the controller and an instrument training pilot. The controller cleared the flight for a practice approach at an altitude that would kiss the edge of the Bravo airspace. The instructor asked if that meant they’re cleared into the Bravo. The controller answered, “Sure, why not?” Earhart laughed and explained the exchange to Petruso, who then made her own first-time request to enter Bravo airspace.
According to Women in Aviation International, of which Earhart is a charter member, fewer than 10 percent of pilots, aviation mechanics, and air traffic controllers are women. When Earhart started flying in 1972, it was something noteworthy in the aviation community when a female voice was heard. Teenager Earhart was often invited to visit the tower, and later when a tower 50 miles away employed the first female controller, everyone at Earhart’s home airport (Madison, Wisconsin) was asking each other if they’d heard the woman at Janesville yet. Thankfully, times are a’ changing. On a recent dual flight, a female controller sequenced Earhart and Petruso behind another Skyhawk flown by a female pilot.
At her award presentation, Earhart remarked, “When my newly licensed dad took me flying in 1969, who knew where it would lead all these years later? Aviation has been good to me, and I am blessed to be honored for 50 years of fun, enjoyment, and adventure.”
Petruso has similar familial influence from her grandfather, Tony Petruso of St. Louis, Missouri, who was an Air Force weapons loader on the F-4 Phantom and earned his private pilot certificate in 1974 at Lambert Airport. He later earned helicopter and seaplane ratings, and is a longtime Tri-Pacer owner. Tony was one of about a dozen supporters watching Mia make her first solo flight during a short break between thunderstorms.
At their first meeting, Earhart told Mia Petruso, “Fifty years ago I was a 16-year-old girl learning to fly. Welcome to the club!”
(L/R) Flight student Mia Petruso and CFI Diane Earhart.
Earhart and Petruso have been flying together for slightly over four months. Earhart enthuses, “Mia is the student I have waited 37 years as a flight instructor for. She comes to each lesson prepared. She is smart and processes information quickly. She is a superior pilot who uses her superior judgment to avoid needing to use her superior skill. I love her.” Petruso enjoys ground lessons with Earhart that are not as dry as the online ground school lessons.
In addition to volunteering at EAA Chapter 64, Mia plays saxophone in her high school jazz band and in the “St. Louis Muny Band.” She makes casseroles for the homeless, teaches religion classes and tutors other high school juniors. She enjoys golfing and bowling, takes horseback riding lessons, and holds a part-time job, while remaining a straight-A student. With her siblings, she looks after eight chickens. Mia is interested in a future in forestry and possibly aerial firefighting.
Diane volunteers at her church, is involved in senior citizen activities, participates in Pilots N Paws missions, and loves all things aviation. She is a 99’s Museum of Women Pilots Trustee, as well as present and prior member of numerous aviation groups. She is also a winner of Writer’s Digest 2020 Writing Competition in two categories.
Earhart and Petruso agree, “Flying is frickety-frackety awesome.”
I’ve been a member of “Cheeseland” Chapter 431 of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in Brodhead, Wisconsin (C37), since 1980, when I bought a 1946 Cessna 140. With so many homebuilt and antique aircraft based in Brodhead, the airport had the expertise to help me keep my airplane flying, thanks in large part to veteran IA Dick Weeden who specialized in maintaining vintage aircraft.
