The Liberty Gazette
December 22, 2020
Ely Air Lines
By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely
Linda: Rachel knew as a teen that she would be a pilot. She began flying lessons in Santa Paula, California, and after becoming a private pilot with an instrument rating, she began working toward a commercial certificate. One day, she drove out to the Camarillo airport to fly a different airplane, a Piper Arrow. And this was her lucky day.
With an instructor, she was flying instrument approaches into Camarillo, followed by a few turns in the traffic pattern for touch-and-go’s. Since this airport has an air traffic control tower, pilots must radio the tower before entering their airspace. That rule put Rachel in direct contact with Tyler, a dashing young controller still in training, just a year out of the U.S. Air Force.
Being the only single guy working in the tower, Tyler was the target of many attempts to be “fixed up” with lovely ladies. “I was their entertainment,” he laughs about his co-workers.
On that day, while Rachel mastered the Arrow, every time she radioed the tower, they teased Tyler, “She’s flirting with you, you know.”
But Rachel protests the allegation with a great sense of humor. “Honestly, I was trying to get a clearance to land! I wasn’t even thinking about guys!”
Mike: However, they needled Tyler, urging him to invite her up for a tour. “I told them no, that was too forward,” he explains. That’s when good ol’ Dave took matters into his own hands, determined to help a buddy out.
As Rachel taxied back to the ramp, Dave pressed the mic button and invited her up. In most circumstances, a controller giving a pilot the phone number to call the tower is an indication that the pilot has done something wrong. But in this case, giving her the number would enable her to call to get through the security gate.
After parking the plane, she drove over to the tower and called. It was Tyler who picked up the phone and graciously let her in.
“They gave me a tour, and everyone was professional and courteous,” Rachel says. “I thanked Tyler for his service to our country, and I thanked all the controllers for showing me the inside of the tower.”
That would have been all there was, but after the tour, Rachel hopped in the fuel truck with her friend Brittany, whose job was to drive it and fuel airplanes. Through the airport’s private frequency, the guys invited them back after quitting time to play basketball at the base of tower.
Whether Rachel offered her phone number or Tyler asked for it depends on who you ask. But they ended up on a date that night. “We went to Universal Studios,” she says, “and our date lasted twelve hours. I never laughed so much for so long, and that’s what won me over about him.”
Today, Rachel is a first officer with a regional airline, Tyler is keeping flights in order from Houston’s approach control facilities, and there is a beautiful wedding on the horizon.
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