AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2022 - 95

First flights /
After earning a master's
degree in journalism
and on assignment
as a field reporter
for CNN, Michelle
Helms headed to
DeKalb-Peachtree
Airport (PDK)
near Atlanta for
an aviation story.
The sight of a young
woman her age sliding
back the canopy of a military
airplane and hopping out planted
the first seed. Soon she was in the
left seat of a Cessna 150 under the
tutelage of CFI Gerald Stepp who
made flying fun and fostered her
confidence. With the ink barely dry
on a commercial certificate, Helms
sought a position as a production
test pilot with a local general
aviation manufacturer and found
the CEO less than interested. When
he accepted her offer of $5 per
hour, she immediately called her
mom and confessed that the joke
was on him because she would
have done it for free. Today Helms
has logged north of 16,000 hours
and is a captain on the Airbus
330 and just purchased her first
airplane-a Zlin Savage Cub Classic
on floats. Her daughter is a CFI
and her son is working toward his
instructor's certificate. Helms and
her boyfriend just earned their
tailwheel endorsements.
Mikhael Ellis grew up
in a single-parent
household in New
York, and, as
a child, never
imagined that he
could become a
pilot. His mom
ensured each of
her children had
a skill with which
they could provide for
themselves without struggle. So,
Ellis learned to cut hair
and earned his master
barber designation as a
teenager. After moving
to Atlanta and finding
stable work there, he
found an affordable
flight school at PDK
and took the discovery
flight that changed
everything. Flight instructors
Michael Carter and Fabrice
Musangila shepherded him through
his private pilot certificate in
August 2020. Since then, he's
earned an instrument rating,
commercial certificate,
and has passed his flight
instructor practical exam.
Ellis reports that he's on
track to have 1,500 logged
hours by 2022 toward his
future as an airline pilot.
When he's not in an airplane
you can still find Ellis cutting hair
as " The Flyest Barber " to fund his
aviation habit.
After serving for
14 years in the
Tennessee
Air National
Guard,
Tommy
Johnson
settled with
his family
in southeast
Tennessee
for a fulltime
ministry career. A
pilot from his church
introduced him to flight
instructor Joey Fowler
and Johnson took
his first instructional
flight on March 2,
2017. He always knew
his calling was a higher
one, but that flight steered
him toward another one. Upon
landing, Johnson asked Fowler,
" Which one of us will call my wife
and let her know why I am about
to put us in debt? " Fortunately,
the GI Bill helped him earn several
certificates and ratings as well as
a degree in aviation from Middle
Tennessee State University. Today
he is a career flight instructor
with Sewanee: The University of
the South, at the Franklin County
Airport, where he also serves as
airport manager. In reflecting on
his path in aviation, Johnson
values his experiences
and enjoys providing
the same spark for
others that Fowler
did for him.
Growing up in
Yemen, Abdul
Maflahi missed
his father who
spent considerable
time in the United States
to provide for his family. While
his grandmother scoffed at the
airplanes that flew overhead
because they routinely took his
father away, Maflahi smiled when
he saw them because they
brought his father back home,
often with candy in hand.
In seventh grade, Maflahi's
family moved to the United
States where he excels in
school. Last fall, during his
senior year of high school, he
took his second-ever flight and his
first in a general aviation airplane.
Johnson put Maflahi in the left
seat and let him fly the Cessna
172 from the Franklin County
Airport on his first lesson. Before
hopping in the airplane, he said
that all his dreams were coming
true and the flight turned out to
be that and more. Maflahi plans to
pursue his certificates and ratings
while earning a college degree
with an eye toward a career as a
commercial pilot.
AOPA PILOT / January 2022
95
AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2022
