“Look up, go up.” Those are the words that pilot Saba Shahid learned from her flying
instructor, the late Frederika Ballard, founder of Fly Lugu, the flight school at Barnes
Airport in Westfield.
Saba is grateful for the times she flew with Frederika and for the lessons learned on her way to becoming a pilot. Her book, “My Mama is a Pilot,” is dedicated to her memory.
Her first flight was a discovery flight in which she spent 30 minutes on the ground in the plane and 30 minutes in the air. At first Saba wasn’t sure about flying, but she tried it again, and fell in love. “It’s such a freeing experience. It allows you to focus and leave everything else behind.”
“When I was taking flying lessons, my husband and my son Aayan would watch and
wait,” Saba said. That was in that fall of 2020.
A year after her first lesson Saba got her pilot’s license. Frederika had become a close friend and role model. “It was empowering for me to learn with Frederika. As a woman and the owner of a flight school, she was a pioneer," Saba said.
Saba is grateful that Frederika knew that she was writing “My Mama is a Pilot.”
Told from the perspective of her five-year-old son Aayan, who now flies with her, the
book, which takes place at Barnes, walks the reader through everything a pilot must do before takeoff, starting the night before a flight.
The book’s illustrations show Saba, her husband Chad Moir, their one-year-old son
Ashaaz, and Aayan. Flying has become a family adventure.
The book is geared to elementary and middle school students, and Saba hopes it
inspires both boys and girls to explore aviation and to “know that the sky is theirs to
conquer.”
“I want my sons to walk into a library and see themselves represented,” Saba said.
For more information about “My Mama is a Pilot” or to book Saba to speak in schools or other venues, visit flyingauthor.com.
It was empowering for me to learn with Frederika. As a woman
and the owner of a flight school, she was a pioneer.