{"id":12016,"date":"2019-08-14T12:17:47","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T17:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/?p=12016"},"modified":"2019-08-14T12:17:47","modified_gmt":"2019-08-14T17:17:47","slug":"women-wings-fo-marissa-colclasure-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/2019\/08\/14\/women-wings-fo-marissa-colclasure-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Women with Wings: FO Marissa Colclasure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just like a spectacular sunrise or a crashing ocean wave, each one may look similar but they are unique in many ways. The same can be said about a pilot.<\/p>\n

Yes, they might wear the same uniform and have a penchant for systematic thinking, but no two pilots are exactly the same. Envoy First Officer Marissa Colclasure is not your typical pilot, and not your typical woman for that matter.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s a single mother of three, a skydiver and wing walker, and the daughter of a father that passed away too soon. As a pilot, she leans more toward a Type B personality with a strong favoring of emotional intelligence over systemic knowledge.<\/p>\n

She doesn\u2019t log hours, she logs adventures. In fact, you can see all of her adventures with her three little copilots on her Instagram page @barefoot_flying_mom.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lucky for us, Marissa was kind enough to give us a little peek of her life as a \u201csingle-mama pilot\u201d and what it means to fly and continue her father\u2019s legacy. Read her interview below!<\/p>\n

For the love of the skies<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"IMG_FLT_Marissa_Colclasure_mom_pilot-3\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Describe the feeling during your discovery flight.<\/strong><\/span>
\nMy discovery flight was all throughout my childhood. My dad was a pilot at a flight school and he would often take us flying.<\/p>\n

Although, I didn\u2019t realize as a kid that we didn\u2019t own all the planes at the flight school. I thought we had access to all these amazing birds and we were caretakers.<\/p>\n

After the loss of your father, did you continue to fly for him?<\/span> <\/strong>
\nNo. I have always known that I, me, Marissa, wanted to fly for me. But, I will say that\u00a0each step and certification through my flight training was probably the closest thing to therapy I could think of.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very much a closing of a chapter. I know that he\u2019s with me when I fly.<\/p>\n

What is a lesson you learned from him that still sticks with you today?<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe journey is the destination<\/em>. That played such a huge part of how I see life; life was already magical.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t have to \u201cbuild time,\u201d because I was an adventurer and I still am. Some pilots view their flight hours as these ticks and numbers on a logbook, and I see my logbook as pages of wildly romantic adventures with the sky.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_FLT_Marissa_Colclasure_mom_pilot-6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do your children inspire you as an airline pilot?<\/span> <\/strong>
\nMy kids are most definitely my biggest supporters. I stopped flying for years and worked as an airline dispatcher, thinking it was the safe choice as a single parent.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t realize how wrong I was until I went flying and my children were there to watch me. Then, I began instructing again, and flew all three of them.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d go flying to grass strips just to play football or baseball. They see the sacrifices I make, but I also see the sacrifices they make too; to be strong and independent when I am gone. They are my inspiration and my favorite adventurers.<\/p>\n

Even though you go on trips where you won\u2019t see your kids for a few days, do you feel lucky that, on the other hand, you get a chunk of time to be with them all day? As opposed to a 9 to 5 job?<\/strong><\/span>
\nI actually see my kids more than if I had a 9 to 5 job. I can volunteer at their schools or go on field trips, be there for all the sports and running around. I feel like flying gave them their mom back.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve skydived (over 300 times) and there\u2019s video of you wing-walking; do you consider yourself a<\/strong> <\/span>daredevil?<\/span> <\/strong>
\nNo, I do not see myself as a daredevil. I\u2019m afraid of heights. I\u2019d be the last to jump off any rocks.<\/p>\n

I trust flying, I trust the wind. For me, I feel there is a symphony in the sky. Sunsets, sunrises \u2013 almost like you can hear ancient sky music, and I feel safe.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_FLT_Marissa_Colclasure_mom_pilot_1\"<\/a>What did you think about Envoy First Officer training in comparison to your previous airline training? <\/span><\/strong>
\nThe Envoy training was very streamlined and very efficient. Start to finish was 60 days from Indoctrination to check-ride. I was also able to do lessons from home, so I spent minimal time away from my kids.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never had such a positive experience in something like that. I was making dinner and doing science projects with my kiddos while studying. I\u2019d say that\u2019s a pretty family-friendly setup.<\/p>\n

I felt like Envoy Training was more of a coach mentality. The instructors come alongside you and encourage you, rather than \u2018this is just how we do things here.\u2019<\/p>\n

Do you feel having a good balance of Emotional Intelligence and Aviation Intelligence makes you a different kind of airline pilot?<\/strong><\/span>
\nI believe flying is an emotional thing. I\u2019ve flown through being afraid, or happy or sad, crying great joy.<\/p>\n

My dad passed away in a plane crash when I was 12 years old, but I still flew the sister-ship at the same airport years later and flew the same route as his last flight.<\/p>\n

There was a nod and some tears with an \u2018I still miss you, Pops\u2019<\/em> on that takeoff.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to a single parent thinking about become an airline pilot?<\/strong><\/span>
\nDo it. Heck, I\u2019d say that to every parent. For pilots who think irregular operations in bad weather or delays is hectic, try being a parent – or both.<\/p>\n

I think flying has made me a better parent and being a parent makes me a better pilot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just like a spectacular sunrise or a crashing ocean wave, each one may look similar but they are unique in many ways. The same can be said about a pilot. Yes, they might wear the same uniform and have a penchant for systematic thinking, but no two pilots are exactly the same. Envoy First Officer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":42006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[105,64,65,66,77,144,58,86,51,68,118,79,92,98,80,91,81,82,83],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}