UCLA graduate Shana Gutovich flies over a Santa Monica neighborhood in her Piper Sport Cruiser. She obtained her license from Santa Monica Flyers in May in the interim between graduating and starting work at an accounting company in the fall.
Shana Gutovich contacted ground control and requested authorization for takeoff.
She checked the oil temperature and ensured that all systems were working. “Runway 21, bravo,” ground control responded.
The clearance had been granted and Gutovich increased the throttle of the Piper Sport Cruiser.
The small two-seater airplane took off into the sky and, within minutes, was traveling over the Santa Monica landscape.
Obtaining a pilot’s license was a long-time dream for Gutovich, who recently graduated from UCLA with a degree in economics. She got the chance to realize her dream during a nine-month lag between finishing classes at UCLA last year and starting work as an accountant this fall.
“I started to think about what I wanted to do, what I really enjoy,” Gutovich said. “Looking around, I knew I’d really like to learn to fly, so I thought I would trade some secretarial work for flight lessons.”
It was then that she started working for Santa Monica Flyers, a five-month old company at the time from which she attained her license. Since receiving her license in May 2011, Gutovich has made long-distance flights all over Southern California.
“It was just the right time,” Gutovich said, adding that she almost sold her car when she was 16 to pay for lessons. “I’m going to start working soon, so if there was ever a time to go for it, it’s now.”
Though a pilot himself since the age of 16, her father, Jeff Gutovich, said he never influenced his daughter to pursue aviation. When he heard she was pursuing aviation, Gutovich said he had mixed emotions.
“On the one hand, I felt proud,” he said. “On the other hand, it’s hard not to be a parent and feel instinctively protective.”
In the sky, the plane starts turning left and Shana Gutovich gently pulls the stick, moving the plane at an angle past stray cumulus clouds.
“She’s definitely a natural pilot,” said Matt Liknaitzky, Gutovich’s examiner for her license. “She manages herself well and handles the plane well, from the get-go.”
Despite the dangers associated with flying, Gutovich said she wants to dispel the notion that flying is only for a certain group of people.
Many people don’t even think about getting their pilot’s license as an option for something fun to do, she said.
Aside from the personal enjoyment she gets from flying, Gutovich said having her license helps impress prospective employers.
Talking about obtaining her license set her apart in job interviews and impressed partners from networking events she attended, she said.
“There (are) certain skills that employers associate with having a pilot’s license,” she said. “It shows you can multi-task, make decisions under pressure and that you have responsibility for expensive stuff.”
With her economics degree in hand, she will begin work at an accounting company in the fall. Though she is thinking about getting into aircraft sales and pursuing further licenses, she said aviation will likely remain a hobby.