Woman flies plane on 90th birthday

Subscribe Now Choose a package that suits your preferences.
Start Free Account Get access to 7 premium stories every month for FREE!
Already a Subscriber? Current print subscriber? Activate your complimentary Digital account.

PALM COAST, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida woman celebrated her 90th birthday by flying a four-seat Cessna.

PALM COAST, Fla. (AP) — A central Florida woman celebrated her 90th birthday by flying a four-seat Cessna.

Billy Jones had to sit on a pillow to see out the windshield Tuesday, but she took off with flight instructor Kurt Schneider by her side and landed some 30 minutes later at Flagler County Airport.

The flight wasn’t out of the ordinary for the 5-foot-tall Jones. For her 80th birthday, she went skydiving. When she turned 85, she flew a glider.

Jones has been taking flying lessons with Schneider for months “just for the fun of flying.”

She has also snorkeled with seals in the Galapagos Islands and gone on safari in Africa. And she always takes the stairs to her third-floor apartment.