Episode 9 - Chicks Who Fly - Tamara Griffith of GIFT Academy
In today’s episode of Chicks Who Fly, I get to have a conversation with Tamara Griffith. Tamara’s certificates and ratings include her Multi-engine ATP, Commercial single-engine for both land and seaplane, CFI, CFII, MEI, AGI, IGI and an A&P and she has her Inspection Authorization.
Tamara is the daughter of Mary Latimer and her husband, Lawrence who founded and run GIFT (Girls In Flight Training ) Academy and whose goal is to identify and to address the various issues that may be causing women to abandon flight training, and to assist them earning their pilot certificates. Tamara has been a freight pilot, a corporate pilot and a mechanic, chief inspector, among other things and serves as one of the head flight instructors for GIFT Academy which was presented with an AOPA Honor Roll award for excellence in training in 2013.
In this episode, Tamara and I get to talk about the support, community and camaraderie that is part of the GIFT Academy flight training experience, flying in different countries such as Dubai, Turkey, Italy and Mexico and the attitudes towards women pilots in each culture, flying for different charity and relief organizations, flying with her dog and how he reacted when she had an emergency, flying with her family and what it was like when having an emergency during a flight with them and how flight training can help with other jobs and life situations.
This was a really enjoyable conversation full of great insight, experience and advice for anyone interested in, or in the process of flight training.
You can reach Tamara by email at giftacademyinc@gmail.com.
You can also visit the GIFT Academy website and you can find her on Facebook and Instagram.
Theme music by Diego Jinkus.