PORTLAND, Maine — In 1991, Mary Build took advantage of the opportunity to take a scenic flight out of the Fryeburg airport. It was early October and the fall foliage in western Maine and the White Mountains was lovely.
“I feel as if I’m in a dream,” Build told the pilot, “Drifting along and seeing all this beauty.” Before the plane had turned around and started back to Maine, she was already thinking about taking flying lessons.
Build, then in her mid-forties, was on her way to a new career as a commercial seaplane pilot and instructor, a story she tells in her memoir, “Finding Myself in Aviation.”
Flying took her from Maine to Alaska, introduced her to all kinds of interesting people, and gave her the mental and emotional rewards she never dreamed of.
“I am and will always be grateful,” she wrote, “That aviation has wound its way into my life and given me the incentive to be a better person. Flying makes me feel whole. It’s a constant job trying to be different than I was for years, but I keep trying.”