Nebraska resident Dorsay Einung doesn’t realize it, but she’s a trendsetter.
She’s mere days away from receiving her private pilot license. Einung always wanted to be an airline pilot, but that dream was crushed in high school when she learned the only pathway was through the Armed Services, which at the time only trained men to be combat pilots.
The 62-year-old Omaha mom and grandmother is part of a growing surge of people looking to aviation for their next career.
Revv Aviation is seeing that trend. In 2023, Revv had a 19% increase in student pilot flights, resulting in 27,000 flight hours across its nine flight schools. “That’s a testament to the fact that people are realizing being a pilot is a great career, including second career,” said Jerome Howard, Revv Aviation’s vice president of flight training and chief instructor. “We’ve seen increases for the past several years and we’re training students from teenagers to their 60s like Dorsay.”
Citing a 2022 report by Boeing, Howard said there is a massive shortage in pilots, mechanics, technicians and cabin crew. The report estimates a demand of 650,000 new pilots and 690,000 maintenance technicians over 20 years. In addition, to encourage more people into aviation, the airlines are now paying five-figure sign-on bonuses and equally six-figure retention bonuses, said Howard.
Einung’s age will restrict her from becoming an airline pilot, but she wants to become a corporate pilot in a few years when she retires and completes all of her flight ratings. She is a senior systems engineer and operates her own successful business.
“It’s been a journey,” she said. “I’m going to be 63 next month (February 2024), and I’ve enjoyed a successful career with my own business, but I’ve always wanted to be a pilot. When I was graduating from high school in the late 1970s, airlines were not accepting women pilots.”
So Einung’s path was like many in her day – technical school for computer programming, marriage, raising a family, career. “I have two biological children but raised nine kids. It would have been irresponsible for me to become a pilot until they were grown and gone.” Now, they are all excited and supportive of Mom’s aviation adventure.
The Journey Began in 2021
Einung took her Discovery Flight in 2021 at Advanced Air, now Revv Aviation, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “I’d be farther along if COVID hadn’t hit. Once I get my PPL (private pilot license), I will speed things up.”
Revv’s Council Bluffs flight school often has about 250 students at any time, as it’s one of two preferred flight schools for students in the University of Omaha at Nebraska’s Aviation Institute. Revv also operates a flight school at Eppley Field in Omaha.
So how does she fit in with all the young college students?
“Sometimes they will look at me, look at my flight bag, look at me and look at the bag again. They grin and keep walking,” she said. “Others chat with me like I’m one of them. I have three guys at school who are waiters at the country club where I’m a member. We always compare notes and have conversations about our piloting journey.
“These kids are amazing,” Einung adds. “They are young and smart and treat each other with respect.
Being young at heart is perhaps the secret to anyone pursuing their life’s dreams. It certainly has worked for Einung who says she’s been doing a lot of flying and feels like “a young kid” when she’s in the air.
Chief flight instructor Howard said, “We encourage anyone who has an interest in flying a plane to be like Dorsay. We are here to help you fulfill a dream, reimagine your next career, or simply check an item off your bucket list.”
“I feel like a young kid when I’m up in the air,” said Einung. “The whole experience appeals to my attention to detail. I’m very precise, and in piloting, you have to know what you’re doing. You can’t cheat.”
While she works through the remaining certifications and ratings, Einung plans to fly dogs that she rescues from puppy mills to their forever homes in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. “I may also volunteer to fly rural people to hospital visits. Those are things I like to do,” she said.
Next up, however, is her checkride.
About Revv Aviation
Revv Aviation is a full-service general aviation company that currently operates nine flight schools across the upper Midwest and in the Southeast with 415 students and 55 single-engine and eight multi-engine training aircraft. Revv has three flight simulators and soon will be offering accelerated ground schooling at its Aurora, Ill., headquarters. Howard said the company will expand its flight school footprint in a manageable and organized fashion.