Name: Deanna Strand

Age: 51

Quote: “I’ve worked really hard for the integrity of this company.”

Deanna Strand came to the Grand Valley 29 years ago and her career unexpectedly soared.

While growing up in Kalispell, Mont., Strand pumped gas and washed the bellies of the charter planes her father flew. Other siblings worked in the office, but Strand preferred to be outside with her hands on the planes.

She didn’t think she wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps, so she attended the University of Montana where she earned her degree in linguistics.

Her first job in Colorado was at Walker Field Airport, now Grand Junction Regional Airport. Her supervisors quickly realized that she had more experience than most people her age, having already received her pilot’s license while in high school.

Later, Strand realized that there might be a small market locally for students wanting to learn to fly here in the Grand Valley. So she pursued her flight instructor license in 1982 and soon opened Strand Flying School.

She remembers thinking that there probably wasn’t enough interest in flying to sustain herself for very long, but she hoped her new venture would get her by in the short term.

After seven years, someone made a serious offer to buy her business. Strand thought it was great. She’d have enough money to pursue what she had always wanted to do.

“But what was that?” Strand remembers asking herself.

Soaring in the open desert sky among the red cliffs of the Colorado National Monument, she realized that she was already doing what she loved. She refused the offer.

This year, Strand Flying School is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Thousands of students have learned to fly in the Grand Valley because of her decision. And she remembers most by name.

There was the school’s oldest student, 82-year-old Kent Norris, who always wanted to learn to fly and finally did.

Then there was 8-year-old Kathleen Withers, who tagged along with her 10-year-old brother for his first flying lesson.

Strand has taught students from all walks of life — young and old, housewives looking for a sense of adventure, even FBI agents who needed to learn to fly in mountainous terrain.

“To see a person learn and watch them become the best they can be” is what Strand finds most rewarding as a flight instructor.

“It just depends on what their direction is,” Strand said of the kind of lessons her school teaches. “A private person might want to learn for fun and many high school students use it as a jump start to a career in aviation.”

Teaching is Strand’s true passion. She prides herself on mentoring people and watching them grow. She thinks people want to fly because “it’s a challenge taking on something that is beyond our element and conquering our fear of the sky.”

“The teaching part is really exciting,” she said. “And I’ve worked really hard for the integrity of this company.”

Strand gives her dad credit for teaching her to make fair business decisions, the kind that make everyone a winner. She’s worked hard to build a reputation for Strand Flying School that includes honesty, enthusiasm, integrity and a high safety standard.

“There’s nothing we can’t take care of here,” she said.

Strand has many of her former students working at the school. The school, she said, is relatively self-sufficient now, which allows her to continue her own career growth.

In 2005, the FAA gave Strand the North West Rocky Mountain Region Flight Instructor of the Year award. She also teaches at flight schools in Salt Lake City, testing new pilots. Strand was recently featured on the Women in Aviation program, or WINGS, produced by the Discovery Channel.

Strand said she is looking forward to taking her basis of knowledge and going in a different direction with it. She is working closely with Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks to build a new company offering helicopter and charter plane tours from The Outpost in Gateway.

When not flying, Strand enjoys the outdoors, including hiking and snowshoeing.

She is also an active member of Canyonview Vineyard Church. She especially looks forward to the women’s trips the church sponsors.

“The thing is, there is so much vision for the future,” Strand said of the direction her life is taking.

Strand is also certain to continue to be a valuable member of the Grand Junction community.

Looking up, you’ll see her soaring over the valley in the red plane.

•

E-mail Richie Ashcraft at rashcraft@gjds.com.