[The Epoch Times, October 13, 2022](Reported by English Epoch Times reporter Louise Chambers / compiled by Zhang Yufei) An American mother who served as an Air Force pilot for more than seven years and was later promoted to a pilot instructor, but in order to raise four children, she Resolutely quit his beloved job. After a 24-year hiatus, she is delighted to be back in the skies recently and flying with her husband, who is also a pilot.
Tamaron Nicklas, 58, from Dallas, Texas, graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1986. When she gave up her career for the sake of her family, she thought she’d never get a chance to fly again, so it was a ‘dream come true’ when she stepped into the cockpit of a Southwest Airlines passenger plane with her husband Larry .
Tamerlan’s father was an Air Force pilot with more than 30 years of experience, so she traveled all over the world with her father since she was a child. Inspired by this, she also wanted to become a pilot and decided to join the Air Force.
By chance, she met Larry, a year older than her, at the Air Force Academy, and they quickly fell in love. By June 1986, just after Tamarron graduated, the two tied the knot.
Afterwards, Larry attended pilot training in Texas, while Tamarron trained at Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma. Tamerlan told The Epoch Times that because of their respective training, they only met on weekends for the first six months of their marriage.
“There were no mobile phones back then, and it was difficult to communicate with each other,” she said. “For almost a year and a half, we could only see each other almost once a month. It was a challenging time, but we managed to get through it. coming.”
Tamarron is the only woman in Vance Air Force Base’s department. She flew a KC-135 aerial tanker and served in the Air Force for nearly eight years before returning to Vance as an instructor for the T-38 trainer.
At this time, Larry was hired as a pilot for Southwest Airlines, and the couple welcomed their third child. After that, in order to take care of his family, Tamaron decided to temporarily give up his flying career.
As a stay-at-home mom, almost no one around her knew she was a pilot. The longer she stayed at home, the less she believed she could return to work. But then, when her youngest went off to college, she heard about a woman in the Air Force Academy’s earlier graduating class taking to the skies again after a long hiatus.
“It’s never too late,” Tamerlan recalled an accidental experience, “when I opened a dark chocolate bar and the wrapper inside said, ‘Learning never ends, it’s never too late.’ It really inspired me and I felt that God was enlightening me through the chocolate bar!”
Afterwards, with the support and encouragement of her husband, Tamarron went to an Air Force flight school in Pueblo, Colorado, and shared her background experiences with them. They immediately offered her a job as a flight instructor.
Next, she worked smoothly at Pueblo for two years. When her daughter started a family, she and Larry moved to Dallas to be closer to her daughter, and Tamarron set her sights on commercial airlines. She later worked for a regional airline for two and a half years, further improving her piloting skills.
It is worth mentioning that two of Tamarron and Larry’s three sons have become Air Force F-16 pilots, and one of their wives is also with them. They were all excited about Tamarron’s successful return to the cockpit. She reached her ultimate goal when she started flying for Southwest Airlines.
“When I got hired, it felt like a dream, after all, I thought I would never get a chance to fly,” she said. “My husband was an instructor and inspector for Southwest Airlines, who happened to be checking rookie pilots, so we Being able to do my first eight flights together. It was a really, really fun experience.”
The co-pilot and mother of four is now inspiring women around the world. Tamar London urges others, regardless of age, to dare to chase their dreams.
Responsible editor: Han Yu#