I'll admit that this is a feature story that I've been looking
forward to... years ago, I was privileged to give Amy Laboda her
first assignments as an aviation writer and have been pleased to
see what she has made of the opportunities.
Determined to work past all obstacles, Amy's has had a career
worth noting. Flying is in the Laboda family, and Amy took up the
sport at 15 years of age. She soloed at 16 and earned her private
pilot certificate two days after her 17th birthday. She continued
flying while earning a Liberal Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence
College in Bronxville, New York; by the time she graduated she was
an instrument-rated commercial pilot and before the year was out
she had earned her instructor's rating.
A short career in the United States Peace Corps as a health
educator is all that has interrupted her aviation career since
then. Amy has taught students how to fly in California, Texas, New
York and Florida. She's towed gliders, flown ultralights, wrestled
with aerobatics and even dabbled in skydiving. She holds an Airline
Transport Pilot rating, multiengine and single-engine flight
instructor ratings, as well as glider and gyroplane ratings. She's
an aircraft owner (an experimental and a factory built machine),
too.
She joined the staff of Flying Magazine in 1988 as an editor,
where she contributed to the development and expansion of the
magazine's training department. In 1991 she left Flying and created
her own company, Marketing Arts. Through Marketing Arts Amy had
done free-lance editorial writing for several different venues,
including Flight Training, Dive Training, Reader's Digest, and many
others. She also does marketing consulting in aviation publishing,
Healthcare, education, computer software and flight training. She's
edited several textbooks, including Flying Ultralights, Principles
of Helicopter Flight, and The Pilot's Manual series of textbooks,
and written a Meteorology online course as an Adjunct Professor for
Utah Valley State University's online University program.
In 2001 Amy became the Editor in Chief of Aviation For Women
magazine, the official publication of Women in Aviation,
International, an nonprofit organization dedicated to helping women
find career opportunities in aviation and aerospace. Amy was a
founding board member of Women in Aviation, International. She is
also a member of the Aircraft Owners' and Pilots' Association and
the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Amy Laboda is an FAA FAAST Team representative on the national
level, and speaks regularly at large aviation events, including the
Experimental Aircraft Association's annual AirVenture Oshkosh
Fly-In.
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (05.10.24): Takeoff Roll
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