Sky's the limit

Columbia Falls High School senior Shaela Tuell is hoping her future is up in the air, literally.

The recent nominee to all three United States military service academies is hoping to one day become a fighter pilot.

Tuell recently received nominations to the Naval and Air Force Academies from Montana Sens. Steve Daines and John Tester as well as Congressman Greg Gianforte and was also nominated for West Point by Daines and Gianforte.

“I have always considered the military an option, but I started to seriously look into it when I was in the seventh grade. I got pretty interested in aviation and the military has really good training as far as aviation goes,” she said. “I decided to look at the service academies because they offer a pretty direct path to a flight slot.”

Tuell, whose father spent six years serving in the Navy, says becoming one of the 1,200 selected for the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryand this year would be her first choice, but she would take an appointment to any of the service academies.

“The Navy is by far my first choice, but my end goal is to fly. So, if I happen to be appointed to West Point or the Air Force Academy instead of the Naval Academy, I would gladly take either of those appointments,” she said.

Tuell, who has already spent 10 hours training in the air, said she has wanted to be a pilot since junior high school.

“I just decided it was something I wanted to do,” she said. “I can actually remember the night pretty clearly. We were talking about future goals at the dinner table and my dad said ‘Planes are pretty cool, maybe you should be a pilot.’ I said ‘yeah’ and I haven’t really looked back since.”

Tuell was involved with the Air Force’s Civil Air Patrol while in junior high and has stayed active in other activities while in high school, including the National Honor Society, lacrosse and cross country. Tuell is Treasurer of the Key Club and also played basketball her freshman year.

Tuell has been taking flying lessons from a private certified flight instructor using her friend’s plane, but will begin training in a Cessna 172 at the Glacier Jet Center in this month as she continues to chase her dream of becoming a fighter pilot.

“My ultimate goal is to be a fighter pilot, but I would probably take anything they would offer me, though,” she admitted. “The competition for flight slots in the military can be pretty intense.”

The 2020 appointments to the U.S. service academies will be announced sometime in the next few months.