The aviation community can sometimes feel like one big extended family. For Nicole Stoddard Robbins, an IFR-rated private pilot and mother of three boys in Utah, that’s more true than it is for many. Robbins is a third-generation pilot whose grandfather served in the U.S. Army Air Corps (now the U.S. Air Force) during World War II, and in Korea and Vietnam. Her dad, Kris Stoddard—who flew for United when Robbins was a kid—is her flight instructor.
Her dad wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and fly for the USAF, but his eyesight was not quite 20/20. So he took an airline job, retiring early after 13 years and earning a master’s degree in social work. He works as a counselor and a Part 135 pilot.
