Woman Aviator Renee Brilhante

I want to forewarn the future pilot: You will find challenges, disappointing times, and you will find yourself choosing routes that you did not expect. Welcome all of it because the journey is what makes the destination so sweet. Take my zig zag journey as an example.

I wanted to be a Air Force Fighter Pilot and go to the Academy, but I had to be 4 inches taller to make the cut for AF pilot. For the Navy, I only needed 2 inches to make the cut, so I applied for the Naval Academy and NROTC. While I was not accepted to the Naval Academy, I earned a Naval ROTC Scholarship for the fifth out of five schools where I applied. After getting into Jacksonville University NROTC as a Mathematics Major, my next two fights were my Height Waiver and getting the Navy to approve Aviation as a Technical Degree. I won one fight and switched from a Math Major to an Aviation Degree at the end of my sophomore year. This meant I carried about 26 credits a semester and did 3 flight lessons a day through my Instrument rating. It was a sweet victory to be the only Certified Flight Instructor earning her diploma at JU in 2013. My battle against Navy Medical was not as fruitful. Under the mentorship and assistance of Tamera Senz, a Se-quim local who fought and won the same fight with the Air Force, I was able to get my Anthro waiver signed and approved, a well worth three-year battle. However, two days before graduation and commissioning, while driving back from the airport and picking up my parents, I received a phone call to meet with my Commanding Officer. That’s when I received the hardest slap in the face to date. I was medically disqualified from Naval Aviation based on a note from a doctor saying I may have scoliosis based on a chest x-ray. I delayed my commissioning and began another fight, writing letters, phone calls, and paying for tests on my back from spinal surgeons who disagreed with the level of degree of spinal curving. But the Navy didn’t bend, and I became a Surface Warfare Officer (Ship Driver) for the next four years, flight instructing on the side to keep my flying itch. Looking back, I’m happy my younger years played out as they did. The change in naval careers meant less years of commitment. I enjoyed all four of them and wouldn’t trade them for the world, but this allowed me to get back into an airline and future Airshow Pilot Career in my 20’s opposed to my 30’s.

11 years after I earned my Pilot license.

So at 28 years old, I’m sitting in an airport home with my Extra 230 sitting in our garage/hangar. I am a Captain for Republic Airways. I’m training in Competitive Aerobatics with the goal to be a US Aerobatic Team Member at Worlds within the next 5 years, flying in Patty Wagstaff’s Extra from the 90’s, built by Walter Extra himself. I’m training to be an Airshow pilot flying SNJ’s with the GEICO Skytypers. I also in-struct in Loss of Control Recovery with Prevailance Aerospace, coach Aerobatics, and I’m President of South Florida’s Aerobatics Club.

Pinch me! I’m blessed and raised well. All of this takes time and hard work. I fly about 1000 hours a year, and when I’m not doing the full time job, I’m still promoting aviation and working hard at my personal goals. I understand this is not for everyone, but we all have something we love and we just have to work hard to have it.

We are all going into this new fight we are calling COVID 19, a fight for our health and our economy. We are flying through tough skies that may get more turbulent. I hope my story is a reminder to be resilient and to use this time wisely. Having little to no work this month is pushing me harder to train in my Extra 230, to be a better leader in my Chapter, and to be a Stewart to those I love most.

My goals are still present, although there’s been a change in the plan, but this month brings more time to train because, when all of this passes and our lives come back, I will be better than my past. In the PNW, we are used to the rain, we track on harder than before, and we will get through it to clear skies.