FLYING FREE

Aragon recounts how she overcame her fear of flying to become the first Latina pilot on the U.S. Unlimited Aerobatic Team.

“Before I took up flying,” writes the author, “I was often plagued by depression and sadness, the feeling that my life was empty, and there was no particular reason to get up in the morning.” However, after her training and certifications, “every single time the wheels of my plane rose from the earth in preparation for an aerobatic flight, euphoria spread through me like the warmth of the sun.” The narrative begins slowly, and readers may find it difficult to feel sympathy for Aragon. But as she chronicles her burgeoning confidence as a pilot, the reading experience becomes more invigorating. Plagued by bullies and dismissive teachers for most of her life, her success in flying bolstered her self-esteem. “It no longer mattered that I’d spent so many years fighting to prove myself as a woman and Latina in math and software engineering,” she writes; nor did the “funny looks” she received from her male colleagues. Aragon interrupts the primary narrative with flashbacks to specific childhood experiences, which disrupts the flow but not fatally so. As she recounts, combining logic and passion, her flying skills continued to develop at a rapid pace, and she was able to deal with her fear “not by ignoring it but by learning to work with it and use it.” In the early to mid-1990s, she became one of the top aerobatic pilots in the world, achieving a goal she “once thought impossible.” Though the author’s prose style is straightforward and unremarkable, studded with self-help platitudes, she describes her feelings and experiences, particularly in flight, with great emotion, and readers will understand her motivations and appreciate her determination.

A message of inspiration for those seeking to break free from societal norms.