Pat
Guest
Sturgis, MI
- Aircraft Year
- 1993
- Aircraft Type
- 114B/115
- Reg Number
- N374JW
- Serial Number
- 14595
This is an article about Roy Williams daughters. He did seminars at the Commander Fly In 2017.
KENDALLVILLE — Some teenagers get cars on their 16th birthdays to fix up with their parents after receiving their driver’s licenses.
The Williams sisters got their own airplanes.
But then again, Samantha, Sydney and Sara Williams were raised in a household where flying is considered just as normal as driving.
“We’ve been around airplanes since we were born,” Samantha said. “We were never pressured into flying, but when I was 14 or 15, I went to my dad and asked him to teach me how to fly.”
“Dad” is pilot Roy Williams, who runs the family business, Airframe Components by Williams Inc., with his wife, Shelly. Roy and his daughters all have grown up around aviation, and each first flew in an airplane before reaching 6 months old.
“The girls would sit in their car seats next to my desk (in the shop), and would go around and bother the guys when they were toddlers,” Shelly said. “Even when they were home sick from school, they would lie on the bed in the office while I worked.”
Aviation runs in their blood so much that Samantha, 21, and Sydney, 18, flew alone in an airplane before they drove alone in a car. Both girls have their pilot’s licenses already, while Sara, 16, and Shelly are working on getting theirs.
Shelly, though she’s been around airplanes since Roy took her flying on their first date nearly 28 years ago, never got around to getting her pilot’s license. Now she’s going through the process with one of her daughters.
“I can’t be the only girl in the family who doesn’t have her license,” Shelly said with a laugh. “I do wish that I hadn’t waited so long though, because I would have been a better passenger with my husband all these years.”
Shelly and Sara are currently in flight training at Falcon Aviation in Kendallville, where they both are getting ready to fly solo for the first time. Though Sara cannot gain her license until she turns 17 next spring, Roy already is trying to find an airplane for her.
Sara’s older sisters already have their own planes.
When she was 16, Samantha rebuilt a 1967 Cessna 150 with help from her father and the crew at Airframe Components by Williams. However, she said she doesn’t get to spend as much time in it anymore, as she begins her senior year at the U.S. Naval Academy this fall.
Sydney recently finished fixing up her 1969 Piper Arrow plane and is currently training to acquire her instrument flight and complex aircraft ratings. She will begin studying biomechanical engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute in August.
Though getting your first plane is strikingly different than getting your first car, the girls said the parental protection is very much the same.
Both Samantha and Sydney’s planes are equipped with the most sophisticated navigation available for their aircraft, thanks to Roy.
“Dad kind of does the overkill thing on the navigation to make sure we don’t get lost,” Sydney said.
Samantha laughed with her sister and nodded her head. “Our planes definitely have major navigation equipment in them,” she said.
It turns out, for good reason.
“When I was in high school, I would disappear for a couple hours after school,” Sydney said.
Shelly shook her head with a smile on her face.
“Yeah, and then she’d text me a picture of Lake Michigan. But she would always be home in time for dinner, though, so no arguments from me,” Shelly said.
In addition to their recreational flying excursions, the girls are heavily involved in aviation groups. Samantha and Sydney are members of the Experimental Aircraft Association and Women In Aviation, and Sydney flies for the EAA’s Young Eagle program, which gives kids ages 8-17 free airplane rides.
All of the Williams women make an effort to attend the “Women Soar You Soar” aviation camp in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, every year, which is the largest fly-in in the world.
“We’ve gone out of our way as parents to encourage them and to show them females in aviation,” Shelly said. “At one of the conferences we went to, Syd and Sam were the only pilots out of 80 or 90 girls.”
The ladies have definitely noticed that they are in the minority when it comes to pilots.
“In Young Eagles gatherings I’ve been to, I’m the only female pilot and the youngest by at least 50 years. And whenever I get to fly other young girls, they always light up,” Sydney said. “It’s really neat to encourage other girls.”
“A lot of times, too, people will ask if I’m just starting to learn to fly,” Samantha chimed in. “And I’m like, ‘No, I already have my license and 100 hours in the cockpit.’ It always surprises people to find out we’re the pilot.”
While aviation is an everyday experience for them, Shelly, Samantha, Sydney and Sara know how lucky they are.
“For me, it’s definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done,” Samantha said. “I’ve met so many different people, and it really has opened so many doors for me.”
“I love the freedom,” Sara said. “It also sounds cool. ‘Oh yeah, pfft, I have a pilot’s license, no big deal.”
All the girls plan on continuing to fly, and Shelly wants to make sure they aren’t the only ones pursuing aviation.
“Anyone who wants to come, come out to the airport. My husband always says to just ask. You never know what could happen until you ask,” Shelly said. “When he (Roy) was little, he’d get up in guy’s airplane just because he asked. So be bold and ask. Especially girls and women. Be bold.”
KENDALLVILLE — Some teenagers get cars on their 16th birthdays to fix up with their parents after receiving their driver’s licenses.
The Williams sisters got their own airplanes.
But then again, Samantha, Sydney and Sara Williams were raised in a household where flying is considered just as normal as driving.
“We’ve been around airplanes since we were born,” Samantha said. “We were never pressured into flying, but when I was 14 or 15, I went to my dad and asked him to teach me how to fly.”
“Dad” is pilot Roy Williams, who runs the family business, Airframe Components by Williams Inc., with his wife, Shelly. Roy and his daughters all have grown up around aviation, and each first flew in an airplane before reaching 6 months old.
“The girls would sit in their car seats next to my desk (in the shop), and would go around and bother the guys when they were toddlers,” Shelly said. “Even when they were home sick from school, they would lie on the bed in the office while I worked.”
Aviation runs in their blood so much that Samantha, 21, and Sydney, 18, flew alone in an airplane before they drove alone in a car. Both girls have their pilot’s licenses already, while Sara, 16, and Shelly are working on getting theirs.
Shelly, though she’s been around airplanes since Roy took her flying on their first date nearly 28 years ago, never got around to getting her pilot’s license. Now she’s going through the process with one of her daughters.
“I can’t be the only girl in the family who doesn’t have her license,” Shelly said with a laugh. “I do wish that I hadn’t waited so long though, because I would have been a better passenger with my husband all these years.”
Shelly and Sara are currently in flight training at Falcon Aviation in Kendallville, where they both are getting ready to fly solo for the first time. Though Sara cannot gain her license until she turns 17 next spring, Roy already is trying to find an airplane for her.
Sara’s older sisters already have their own planes.
When she was 16, Samantha rebuilt a 1967 Cessna 150 with help from her father and the crew at Airframe Components by Williams. However, she said she doesn’t get to spend as much time in it anymore, as she begins her senior year at the U.S. Naval Academy this fall.
Sydney recently finished fixing up her 1969 Piper Arrow plane and is currently training to acquire her instrument flight and complex aircraft ratings. She will begin studying biomechanical engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute in August.
Though getting your first plane is strikingly different than getting your first car, the girls said the parental protection is very much the same.
Both Samantha and Sydney’s planes are equipped with the most sophisticated navigation available for their aircraft, thanks to Roy.
“Dad kind of does the overkill thing on the navigation to make sure we don’t get lost,” Sydney said.
Samantha laughed with her sister and nodded her head. “Our planes definitely have major navigation equipment in them,” she said.
It turns out, for good reason.
“When I was in high school, I would disappear for a couple hours after school,” Sydney said.
Shelly shook her head with a smile on her face.
“Yeah, and then she’d text me a picture of Lake Michigan. But she would always be home in time for dinner, though, so no arguments from me,” Shelly said.
In addition to their recreational flying excursions, the girls are heavily involved in aviation groups. Samantha and Sydney are members of the Experimental Aircraft Association and Women In Aviation, and Sydney flies for the EAA’s Young Eagle program, which gives kids ages 8-17 free airplane rides.
All of the Williams women make an effort to attend the “Women Soar You Soar” aviation camp in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, every year, which is the largest fly-in in the world.
“We’ve gone out of our way as parents to encourage them and to show them females in aviation,” Shelly said. “At one of the conferences we went to, Syd and Sam were the only pilots out of 80 or 90 girls.”
The ladies have definitely noticed that they are in the minority when it comes to pilots.
“In Young Eagles gatherings I’ve been to, I’m the only female pilot and the youngest by at least 50 years. And whenever I get to fly other young girls, they always light up,” Sydney said. “It’s really neat to encourage other girls.”
“A lot of times, too, people will ask if I’m just starting to learn to fly,” Samantha chimed in. “And I’m like, ‘No, I already have my license and 100 hours in the cockpit.’ It always surprises people to find out we’re the pilot.”
While aviation is an everyday experience for them, Shelly, Samantha, Sydney and Sara know how lucky they are.
“For me, it’s definitely one of the best things I’ve ever done,” Samantha said. “I’ve met so many different people, and it really has opened so many doors for me.”
“I love the freedom,” Sara said. “It also sounds cool. ‘Oh yeah, pfft, I have a pilot’s license, no big deal.”
All the girls plan on continuing to fly, and Shelly wants to make sure they aren’t the only ones pursuing aviation.
“Anyone who wants to come, come out to the airport. My husband always says to just ask. You never know what could happen until you ask,” Shelly said. “When he (Roy) was little, he’d get up in guy’s airplane just because he asked. So be bold and ask. Especially girls and women. Be bold.”
