Dual Enrollment Student Turns Her Sweet 16 Into an Aviation Celebration

With the Florida sun as a backdrop, Ava Shelly is shown flying solo in a Robinson R-44 helicopter as part of her 16th birthday celebration. (Photo: David Brown)

On Jan. 21, 2024, Ava marked a common teenage milestone in a most uncommon way: she started the day with a solo flight in a high-performance Cirrus SR-20, then passed an FAA check ride in a Schweizer SGS 233 sailplane to earn her license as a glider pilot and, because she could, she capped off the festivities with a solo flight in a Robinson R-44 helicopter.

This unique aviation trifecta had been in the works since the Treasure Coast resident fell in love with flying when she was 10, helping her get a solid head start on the flying career she has been dreaming about since then.

“I just love to fly,” said Ava, who has her sights firmly set on becoming a Naval Aviator. “So, I am working on building up as much experience as I can.”

Why Choose Dual Enrollment at Embry-Riddle?

Ava’s impressive head start isn’t limited to her flight training. As part of the Dual Enrollment program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide Campus, she has been earning college credits while still in high school, putting her on track to have an associate of science degree by the time she finishes 12^th grade.

“I chose Embry-Riddle because it is a top-rated aviation school,” Ava said. “Now that I have experienced it, I know it’s going to help me reach my goal of attending the United States Naval Academy.”

While taking her college-level courses in math and English, Ava said she has gotten plenty of encouragement from the Dual Enrollment team and her Embry-Riddle professors.

“I couldn’t be more thankful,” she said. “Everyone is so supportive and cares about me and how I am doing.”

Beyond making academic strides, Ava’s father, Mike, says the Dual Enrollment experience also prepares her in other ways.

“This is a personal development thing,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for her to be ready for the Naval Academy when the classes and subjects get more difficult. She’s experiencing that kind of challenge now, and it will pay off in the future.”

A Passion Takes Flight

Ava’s aviation journey started with a 10^th birthday gift from her grandfather, a pilot for the now-defunct Eastern Airlines. That discovery flight in a Cessna 172, an airborne jaunt down the Florida coast from Witham Field in Stuart, was an epiphany for young Ava.

“I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” she said. “I just fell in love immediately and wanted to continue flying forever.”

Mike Shelly remembers the day and his daughter’s reaction very well.

“She wouldn’t let us leave the parking lot until we signed her up for another lesson,” he said.

As she began her flight training in earnest, Ava initially focused on flying gliders at the Treasure Coast Soaring Club for several reasons. First, learning how to handle a non-powered aircraft teaches essential stick and rudder and energy management skills, and you can also legally become a student glider pilot at age 14 and then earn your license by age 16.

This is, of course, precisely what she did, and she documented her glider solo in the Spring 2022 edition of AviNation magazine. But Ava did not stop with soaring.

At Sky Blue Aviation, she began her powered aircraft training with an eye toward earning her private pilot ticket when she turns 17, the youngest age possible, which would be a natural progression from her birthday solo in the Cirrus.

Ava also started building helicopter time at Treasure Coast Helicopters to master the art of rotary-wing flying, which can be notoriously tricky and adds to the skillset of any fixed-wing aviator.

To that end, she’s also taken several aerobatic lessons with legendary pilot Patty Wagstaff, and she wrote about the experience in the Spring 2023 edition of AviNation magazine. Ava also wrote an article about her aviation mentors for Flying magazine in 2021.

Although she juggles three different types of flying, each with its own demands, Ava still finds time to excel in her Dual Enrollment classes and to be a stellar student at Tradition Preparatory High School, where she is part of the student government. She’s also involved in competitive cheerleading, is part of a shooting team, and enjoys scuba diving in what little free time she has.

“I’ve been working on my time management since I was 10,” Ava said, explaining how she fits everything in. “I make a schedule and keep everything written down.”

Team Effort Provides a Boost

While hard work and determination fuel her accomplishments, Ava is grateful for the family, friends and other supporters—including Embry-Riddle’s Dual Enrollment team—who have helped make such extraordinary achievements possible.

“My family has been amazing,” she said. “Especially since I just got my driver’s license, they have been the ones taking me to all the lessons and helping me to study and keep up with everything.”

Mike Shelly said Ava has also gotten vital backing from the local chapter of the EAA and the Treasure Coast 99s, part of an international organization of women pilots who promote aviation. He said the family and community backing was evident in the turnout for Ava’s birthday flights, as these pictures by South Florida photographer David Brown illustrate.

“There were probably 25 or 30 people who came,” he said. “Everybody was looking at Foreflight, checking the weather, looking over the aircraft and giving her guidance. With all the different types of flying and procedures involved, the pre-briefs and the debriefs, it took a lot of people to make it happen. It was really a team effort.”

Ava plans to reward that community support with her continued success, charting a course that could one day have her landing a fighter jet such as the F/A-18 Super Hornet or the F-35 Lightning on the rolling deck of an aircraft carrier.

“Flying for the Navy, landing on aircraft carriers and being part of that experience, that’s kind of like plan A for me,” she said. “If I end up flying for the airlines after that, I wouldn't mind that at all.”