Allison Donaghy, 26, is a first officer on the Phenom for JetSuite. She is based out of Denver and lives in Montana with her Karelian Bear Dog, Kip. Donaghy’s first exposure to aviation was a customer service position with Signature Flights in Alaska when she was 18. Even though she’s the only pilot in her family, Donaghy grew up around aviation, which is an integral part of the local community in Alaska. She began working towards both her airframe and powerplant (A&P) certificate and her private pilots license (PPL), completing both at the same time. Afterwards she bought a plane and traveled to Las Vegas to knock out her instrument rating. She returned to Alaska to do her commercial rating, sold her plane and it was “pretty much flight training all the time,” said Donaghy. She currently possesses a commercial license with an instrument rating, multi-engine add-on and a type rating in the Phenom.
Her first commercial job was flying mail in Alaska where her mechanical background came in handy. “I had a good attitude, and I told them that I wasn’t afraid of hard work and loading and unloading planes,” she explained. She also sees the advantage of having her A&P. “You end up with a deeper understanding of how everything works mechanically,” said Donaghy. Her advice for people just getting started in business aviation is that “there are many paths to get everything done…there’s no right or wrong way.”
Last updated April 28, 2020
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.