Earning her wings: Montana teen flies solo at Eagles Nest

She started by biting her lower lip.

Pre-flight jitters, mostly hidden in a stiff westerly wind that tossed the hair of a dozen onlookers.

At 14 years old, Lillymae Gunick prepared Friday to do what few before her have attempted in their early teens: a solo flight in a glider plane.

Without an engine rumbling with her, Lillymae soared through a mostly clear sky, pillowing into thermal spires before floating to the ground.

“The kid has got an incredible amount of moxie and discipline,” said Ben Johnson, club secretary for the Shenandoah Valley Soaring Club. “The people who get this far, they’re pretty motivated people.”

With her successful flight, Lillymae earned her student license to fly glider planes on her own.

“I flew around, and I did some minimal-control air speed,” Lillymae said. “I had some fun. I was nervous and excited.”

She spent much of her early childhood at Eagles Nest Airport in Waynesboro. It’s where she first met her mentor, Jay Darmstadter. It’s where she first learned to fly.

“She was sitting at the fence when Jay came by in his golf cart and asked her if she wanted a ride in a glider,” said her father, Richard Gunick. “It wasn’t long after that she got up in the air.”

When her family moved out west, to Ennis, Mont. (population 840), they lost access to a tight-knit soaring club.

Lillymae said she and her father travelled back to Waynesboro three weeks ago so she could earn her license with the help of Darmstadter, her trainer.

“He’s the best one in the world,” she said. “He’s extremely patient.”

Darmstadter described his student as a talented young flyer with a will to succeed.

“There are people who are naturals, and then there are some people who it takes a while,” he said. “She’s not a natural, but she learned to fly, and she’s good.”

Watching Lillymae from the ground, Jim Kellett looked to the sky through a pair of orange sunglasses.

A former regional director of the Soaring Society of America, the Harrisonburg resident said he prefers piloting glider planes to motorized aircraft.

“Altitude is fuel,” he said. “If I were flying to have fun, it’d definitely be in a glider.”

Lillymae said she hopes to get her full piloting license when she turns 16.

With a full license, the teen said she’d be able to carry passengers.

“I don’t care what it is,” she said. “I just want to be in the air.”