Intergenerational friendship takes flight

MOULTONBOROUGH — For girls bitten by the aviation bug in their teenage years, few realize the dream of becoming a licensed pilot and flight instructor pilot by age 20.

And probably no one other than Kaylee Smith has a cheerleader who happens to be a 97-year-old World War II veteran, a D-Day survivor of the allied invasion that turned the tide of the war in Europe.

When it comes to companionship and common interests, Smith of Moultonbourgh and David Doane of Wolfeboro earn flying colors.

Four weeks ago, Smith, who is a junior-year aviation management student at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts working toward certification as a commercial pilot, took her older friend, a neighbor of her grandparents, on an early leaf-peeping, lake-viewing flight that included cruising the airspace over Alton and Meredith bays and birds'-eye views of both their homes.

“You would think that I was riding with a pilot who had been years in the air,” said Doane, who first met Smith when she was a toddler visiting her grandparents. “I felt so calm. It didn’t bother me at all,” said the U.S. Army veteran, who served in an ordnance battalion under Gen. George Patton repairing smaller weapons. “I always loved flying. She did an excellent job.”

“He loved it. He was smiling the whole time,” Smith said. “He thought me being a female pilot was so cool, and that I was flying him around. I thought it was so cool that I was flying a World War II vet around.”

Doane said the story isn’t really about him at all, or even their mutual admiration. He believes the story is about the dedication of a high school student to achieve her dream in a surprisingly short amount of time — including during pandemic shutdowns, and the inspiration this provides for others. Doane said his contribution was mostly writing encouraging notes.

Smith’s father is a commercial airline pilot, so sampling airborne life came naturally. Phil Smith took his daughter up on scenic and discovery flights once a year, but she didn’t think about becoming a pilot until her senior year at Bishop Brady High School. A discovery flight takes an aspiring aviator up for in-the-air time with plane maneuvers to see if they actually like flying. During her senior year, Smith flew with a certified flight instructor who allowed her to take the controls, including during takeoff. Prior to tearing her ACL, a key ligament in the knee, during fall soccer her senior year, Smith was hoping to score a basketball scholarship for college. After that, her thoughts turned to what she ultimately might like to do for a career.

Smith started flight training in March 2020, during the pandemic, and has amassed 380 hours in the air so far. She hopes to rack up more this year, with the next milestone being the 1,500-hour mark. She flies a 172 Skyhawk, a single-engine plane she rents from a flight school at Laconia Airport, and practices with the same aircraft as a part owner and member of the Plymouth Flying Club, where she is currently the youngest of about a dozen members.

“I just think it’s so cool to be in the air when everyone else is on the ground,” Smith said. “It’s almost like an escape from reality. You’re seeing these views of the sun and the sky and the clouds and it’s so pretty to be in it. You can forget what’s going on on the ground.”

Flying also offers small, tight-knit community in the Lakes Region, including some other female pilots. At this point, Smith has flown all over New England, from Bar Harbor to Nantucket, as well as to North Carolina and Ohio.

Colleagues in her aviation program south of Boston includes student pilots, private pilots and some who are working toward their instrument rating, which enables pilots to fly blind in the clouds using instruments only — a skill perfected in order to become a commercial airline pilot.

Smith said she hopes to start her professional career as a regional pilot of smaller 80-passenger aircraft for Republic Airways, headquartered in Minneapolis, then work her way up to something the size of a Boeing 737, which transports roughly 180 passengers.

“At this point, I’m not really sure which airline or airplane I want to fly,” Smith said. “I’m going day by day, and seeing where it takes me.”