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[Wings ‘n’ Things/Aviation..... .Nov. 22, 2004] ROUND-THE-WORLD FLYER NOW AN OCALA RESIDENT Carol Ann Garratt's name is familiar to those who know a young Florida woman made a solo flight around the world in her Mooney M20J in 2003 to increase awareness about ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease. But what many DON'T KNOW is that the former Kissimmee resident now lives in Ocala. She has joined the ranks of residential aviation community dwellers, moving to Leeward Air Ranch with her Mooney, N220FC. Garratt started out as a mechanical engineering student, which led to a career in manufacturing engineering. She became a self-described work-a-holic in a field she loved, learned that things weren't always equal for women, moved often and met and overcame many new challenges. Before ending up in Florida her jobs took her to Wisconsin, California, France, Illinois, Texas, Utah and Pennsylvania. When she lost her job in October 2001 she was shocked, but says now she has no regrets. She loved her work and all the people she met through it but hasn't missed it a bit. "Life has opened up wonderfully, "she said in Upon Silver Wings: Global Adventure in a Small Plane, the book she wrote about her around-the-world adventure. "I would NEVER have had the courage to leave my job; I guess I should be glad that I was fired (or, that my position was eliminated, to be politically correct)." Unemployment gave her the time to try many new things... now practically every day is an adventure! About her background, Garratt says she was one of five children, four of whom were boys. Thus she probably developed a healthy sense of competition. Her dad was interested in flying, and all the siblings took flying lessons. She earned her license but didn't fly much during her working years, starting again when her mother was diagnosed with her disease in March 1999. Garratt made monthly visits from her home in Pennsylvania to her parents' home in southern Virginia in a rental 152. When she was transferred to a plant in Orlando in early 2000, she purchased a Mooney for the now-longer commute. It was the right size for her, fast, and very fuel efficient. That's the plane she flew around the world, and the one that's in her hangar at Leeward - it's white with gray wings, a solid blue tail and a red stripe down the length of the fuselage, should you see it around the Ocala area. When Garratt's mother died in April 2002, she continued to fly her Mooney back and forth to visit her Dad. Already instrument rated, she added on a flight instructor rating and began flying more volunteer Angel Flights for medical patients. She also began taking more youngsters up for introductory flights under the EAA's Young Eagles program. She continues doing these flights on a frequent basis today. The around-the-world trip was not something she had always longed to do. In 2002, not having much luck with her new job search, she started thinking that maybe she should take her friends in France up on a suggestion to fly the Mooney over and take them up for a ride. Then her Dad said he'd like to visit his sister in New Zealand and do some touring around Australia. At 81, she felt she should accompany him... why not with the Mooney? She had read about, then talked to people at Oshkosh who had flown Mooneys across the NorthAtlantic, as well as to Australia, am\nd even around the world. She started making plans. By February 2003 she was ready to go! The first leg, Florida to California, was her longest of the entire seven-month adventure. At 16 hours, she experienced almost everything that would transpire in later legs of the journey - weather concerns, fatigue, boredom, use of the primitive "rest room facilities," fuel management and food management. Much of this trip was flown with a laptop computer in use, communicating via e-mail. In her book she writes, "Because I had to be listening to ATC all the time, I couldn't go off frequency to talk on the HF, but I could write e-mails on my laptop computer and send them while doing all my other pilot duties. So, I made up my first e-mail as to how the flight was progressing and sent it to my short list of friends and family. Because it uses radio waves, the transmission is very slow. I couldn't send attachments, nor have a long e-mail list. I'd asked that each recipient pass the information along to others. The best part was receiving e-mails. After several hours I reconnected to send another update, and responses started coming in. Now that made me smile The second leg was to Hawaii, then she went on to American Samoa, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Howe Island, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, India, the Seychelles, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Ethiopia, Greece, around Europe, then back across the North Atlantic into Canada and home. Along the way she met friends old and new, enjoyed all sorts of experiences as a pilot and as a tourist, introduced children and adults to first flights in a small airplane and generally had the time of her life! Every stop had an interesting story, as did every flight leg. To learn all the details about the flight directly from Garratt, attend (or sponsor) one of her excellent presentations she does for groups. Copies of her book telling the story are also available for sale. All donations from her talks and book sales go directly to the ALS Therapy Development Foundation researching a cure for ALS. You may contact her at ca.garratt@att.net It's a fascinating story and we're glad to have you in our neighborhood, Carol Ann! |