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8 reviews for:
Flying Free: My Victory Over Fear to Become the First Latina Pilot on the US Aerobatic Team
Cecilia Aragon
3.92 AVERAGE
8 reviews for:
Flying Free: My Victory Over Fear to Become the First Latina Pilot on the US Aerobatic Team
Cecilia Aragon
3.92 AVERAGE
Probably a 4.5.
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book. While Cecilia Aragon and I have had very different lives, I found her extraordinary story of going from being crippled by fear to becoming the first Latina pilot on the US aerobatic team so relatable.
I loved watching Cecilia’s transformation as she discovered her love of flying and just went for it, challenging all the stories that her upbringing had taught her. I realized I have been struggling with some of the same stories — such as the ones telling us that we should be small and selfless — and through cheering her on in this book, I also started cheering on myself.
I also really enjoyed the diagrams that explained the various aerobatic flight patterns. They were fun to study but also they brought some of Cecilia’s points home for me and made her journey even more incredible: The plane has to go upside DOWN to complete these patterns. Obviously that is unsurprising, but it was still a nice addition for this visual learner.
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book. While Cecilia Aragon and I have had very different lives, I found her extraordinary story of going from being crippled by fear to becoming the first Latina pilot on the US aerobatic team so relatable.
I loved watching Cecilia’s transformation as she discovered her love of flying and just went for it, challenging all the stories that her upbringing had taught her. I realized I have been struggling with some of the same stories — such as the ones telling us that we should be small and selfless — and through cheering her on in this book, I also started cheering on myself.
I also really enjoyed the diagrams that explained the various aerobatic flight patterns. They were fun to study but also they brought some of Cecilia’s points home for me and made her journey even more incredible: The plane has to go upside DOWN to complete these patterns. Obviously that is unsurprising, but it was still a nice addition for this visual learner.
slow-paced
This is the memoir of the first Latina pilot on the US aerobatics team and it is a compelling read (or listen, in my case). It grabbed me as much as a good novel, and there were times when I had trouble hitting the pause button because I needed to find out what happened next. It's a story about taking risks and conquering one's fears, and also a story about living in a world filled with discrimination and microaggressions. It's also a story about flying, and what that feels like. Overall, a wonderful read.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Cecilia Aragon has faced a lot of racial and sexist challenges in her life, but when she decided to become a pilot, she worked through pushing all her doubts and insecurities aside to preserve. She is one of the many female inspirations the world has been blessed to know.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
"Air was the element I was born to live in.
My wings trembled in the air currents like they'd grown out of the muscles in my back. This plane was my body. My body gleamed in the sun, a tiny bright being free of the confines of the world."
This is the kind of stuff I crave for. An amazing female role model (A programmer, a nerdy computer scientist, an aerobatic pilot that won championships and university professor!) that I can look up to, the life of a successful aviatrix tingling my flying bones and helping me achieve my best, defying all odds in a man-oriented sector.
"Don't ever get too good at a traditionally female task or they'll make you do it for the rest of your life," is one of the most relatable sentences of this amazing memoir.
Flying is the passion that set free Cecilia Aragon and my heart filled with joy and excitement all through this book. I loved every single page, the rites of passages she accounted were excruciatingly hard and painful that lead to a life of fulfillment.
Flying is cheating death every day and for women to go down that road, especially if they are grown in a traditional atmosphere is especially difficult. The environment and society prepare you for the roles you will lead and deviating from this road requires courage and determination to eliminate obstacles along the way.
The price you pay is worth it, though and I agree with every word of her description of flying: "It was a three-dimensional dance in the sky, art plus mathematics, science plus sport, requiring all reflexes, rhythm, and timing."
A must-read for aviation enthusiasts, female aviators and all women struggling to achieve the best of themselves. This book will definitely boost your spirits and as Aragon says: "Life is relentless, and if you allow yourself to be fully alive, you too will become a force of nature."
"I've heard people describe how alcohol or heroin seems to fill the hole in their heart, how it wipes all the pain away. That's the effect flying had on me.
For so long, I've been aching, lonely, missing something essential. Flitting from one failure to another. But that day, the hole in my heart was filled."
(I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review)
My wings trembled in the air currents like they'd grown out of the muscles in my back. This plane was my body. My body gleamed in the sun, a tiny bright being free of the confines of the world."
This is the kind of stuff I crave for. An amazing female role model (A programmer, a nerdy computer scientist, an aerobatic pilot that won championships and university professor!) that I can look up to, the life of a successful aviatrix tingling my flying bones and helping me achieve my best, defying all odds in a man-oriented sector.
"Don't ever get too good at a traditionally female task or they'll make you do it for the rest of your life," is one of the most relatable sentences of this amazing memoir.
Flying is the passion that set free Cecilia Aragon and my heart filled with joy and excitement all through this book. I loved every single page, the rites of passages she accounted were excruciatingly hard and painful that lead to a life of fulfillment.
Flying is cheating death every day and for women to go down that road, especially if they are grown in a traditional atmosphere is especially difficult. The environment and society prepare you for the roles you will lead and deviating from this road requires courage and determination to eliminate obstacles along the way.
The price you pay is worth it, though and I agree with every word of her description of flying: "It was a three-dimensional dance in the sky, art plus mathematics, science plus sport, requiring all reflexes, rhythm, and timing."
A must-read for aviation enthusiasts, female aviators and all women struggling to achieve the best of themselves. This book will definitely boost your spirits and as Aragon says: "Life is relentless, and if you allow yourself to be fully alive, you too will become a force of nature."
"I've heard people describe how alcohol or heroin seems to fill the hole in their heart, how it wipes all the pain away. That's the effect flying had on me.
For so long, I've been aching, lonely, missing something essential. Flitting from one failure to another. But that day, the hole in my heart was filled."
(I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review)