Charnell Walls was selected as the recipient of the Women in Aviation International Martha King Scholarship for Women Flight Instructors. Donated by King Schools co-founder Martha King, the scholarship includes a $5,000 stipend and lifetime access to all King Schools courses.
Walls initially began flying after a discovery flight in 2002 and was working on her commercial certificate when she stopped training, temporarily, as it turned out. After working as a flight attendant and then in business, Walls decided in 2016 that she could take advantage of the pilot shortage and after selling her house to pay for tuition, enrolled in the University of Oklahoma’s aviation department, eventually graduating with honors and a bachelor’s degree in aviation management. Now working for FlightSafety International as a simulator second-in-command (SIC) pilot, Walls’s first professional flying job was as a captain for Cape Air.
But having become a commercial pilot after age 50, Walls realized that it wouldn’t be long before she would have to retire from a Part 121 airline flying job after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65. The FlightSafety SIC job has introduced her to a new world, corporate aviation, that provides opportunities for pilots beyond the airline retirement age, as does becoming a flight instructor. And the scholarship will help her keep flying and sharing her knowledge with new pilots.
“That’s the end goal,” she told AIN. “I want to be a CFI and teach other young girls to fly. I started so late in life, I want to get to kids when they’re young, and I want them to have an easier route, to avoid the pitfalls that elongated my process.”
Meanwhile, Walls is enjoying working with FlightSafety customers as SIC on the Falcon 2000 EASy simulator at the DFW North learning center. With more than 1,600 flight hours logged, Walls aims to be ready when she can add her full type rating and airline transport pilot certificate as part of the benefits of working in the FlightSafety SIC program.
“Before going there and meeting other corporate pilots, I really didn’t look outside that one little bubble [airlines],” she said. “That’s all they talk about in school; they never talk about the corporate aviation side. I really like the [variety] in corporate aviation.”
“You hear about ‘second chances’ and ‘new starts’ but rarely about as bold a decision as Charnell Walls made,” said Martha King. “Charnell is a truly remarkable person. It has been a privilege to get to know her and it will be fun for us to watch her go forward.”