105-Year-Old Woman Celebrates Birthday With First Flying Lesson

Virginia Mills outside of a Cessna 172. The same plane she flew in celebration of her 105th birthday. Photo by Debbie Gliozzi

On May 18, 2019, it was the 105th birthday for Virginia Mills. How did she celebrate? By going flying, of course. For the first time ever! She'd said she'd always wanted to fly, so with the help of the angels, she got her wish. Those angels, by the way, are the folks who work at the assisted living facility in Ohio, where Virginia resides, a couple of local pilots and a number of other special friends.

The flight itself was memorable. Mills went up in a Cessna 172 with local pilots CFI Gliozzi and fellow airman Mark Taylor, going out of Portage County Airport, Ohio. Gliozzi let Virginia try her hand at aviating so she could finally see the world from a new point of view. (A side note: Portage County was the perfect airport for that, given its three-letter identifier: POV!)

How'd it go? Gliozzi said that Virginia rocked it, flying the plane throughout the lesson and even landing it herself. Her new CFI even had a birthday present for her when she emerged: her very own logbook with the first entry signed off.

And how'd Virginia like it? It was, she said, "one of my best birthdays ever." So happy slightly belated birthday from all of us at Plane & Pilot, Virginia!