Freedom to Fly—A Flight Instructor's Dream Come True

It's a passion. Clear and simple. Julie Keane has loved flying since seeing her dad fly planes when she was a young child.

"It always fascinated me. I used to ask my father to bring me home some clouds. I thought they were like cotton candy," she told Patch recently.

"I never actually got to fly with him. I wanted to hide under the seat but I couldn't because he worked for the government."

Keane's father was a Border Patrol pilot out of El Paso, Texas when she was young. When she was about 10, the family moved to the San Diego area and he became chief pilot for the Border Patrol at Brown Field.

Though her dad passed away when she was 18, she likes to believe he's in the plane with her sometimes.

"All pilots face certain situations where it can get intense," Keane said. "Sometimes it feels like he's there with me. On my first solo, I was nervous. I know he was in that plane with me."

Keane is the flight instructor examiner for pilots at Ramona Airport. She also gives check rides at Ramona and other airports in San Diego county for people who need sport, private, instrument and commercial licenses and ratings.

She operates Julie Keane Aviation out of Ramona's airport. She said Ramona has uncommon qualities that make it a great location in which to fly.

"We don't get the coastal fog so there are more opportunities to fly in good weather," she said.

There are also fewer air traffic control delays, she said, and there are great open spaces to fly over as practice.

Keane's students range from teenagers to much older pilots. One is a mother from "down the hill" who has rasied her children and now wants to do something just for herself.

All her best students have something in common.

"It's a commitment," Keane said. "You have to really want to do it."

Although Keane's college major was unrelated to aviation, she decided after college that she, herself, had the desire and commitment to fly, so she changed direction, surprising even herself, she said, with a chuckle.

She has been flying and training prospective pilots for more than 25 years.

The most common rating her students strive for—the Private Pilot's License—requires a minimum of 40 hours of flight time but most people take about 75 hours to complete it, she said.

Keane said she was the first person to offer Sport Pilot training in San Diego county. That rating mandates at least 20 hours of flight time, with the national average being 35, she said.

What does she love about flying?

"It's always an adventure."

Her whole family is into the adventure.

Keane's husband, Patrick, is an air traffic controller for LAX arrivals. He works for Southern California Tracon monitoring radar information and is based in San Diego. Her teenage son and daughter are both learning to fly.

"George wants to solo at age 16. Leah is in college, so she's busier," Keane said. The family lives in Julian.

At Saturday's she'll continue giving lessons and will mingle with visitors.

"I wanted to set up a booth but my young students all said, "No, we want to fly!" she said with a laugh. "So I'll be up and down flying with them all day."