Years ago, the trajectory of a little girl’s life was changed dramatically when her Granddad said to her, “c’mon, let’s go flying!”
Jill Gowen was the youngest in a long line of family aviators in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Thanks to her Granddad, her first flight in a Cessna 172 at age 5 happily started her own lifelong love affair with flying.
Granddad Jay Fleeman knew he had Jill hooked on flying after that flight and began encouraging her to take hold of the flight controls. The faithful orange-and-white Cessna they flew together somehow acquired the moniker “Old George,” and Jill still gets sentimental when she talks about it.
“For years, I was too short to reach the rudder pedals, but I would fly and Granddad would work the rudder,” recalled Jill. “When I was 9, I made my first landing where Granddad did not help me at all in Old George.”
By the time she was 15, Jill was working on her private pilot certificate. Joe Fleeman, her uncle and CFI, gave her flying lessons in his blue-and-white Cessna 172 (N7056Q).
“It was a little difficult honestly, because I was a teenager,” reflected Jill. “I loved airplanes and aviation, but I also loved doing teenage things. So I really had to put a lot of focus on learning to fly and meeting the requirements. I’m glad I did!”
Jill soloed N7056Q in March 1998 at Lawrenceburg-Lawrence County Airport (2M2) in Tennessee, and later took her private check ride at Lebanon Municipal Airport (M54) in November 1999.
When she was 18, she went to Sowell Aviation in Panama City, Florida, where she earned her instrument rating in a 172 in August 2000.
Her grandfather knew Jill needed to build hours for her commercial, so he bought a Cessna 152 (N77836) for her to fly. Jill named the 152 “Milba.”
“I flew to visit my boyfriend — now my husband — when he was going to the University of North Alabama,” recalled Jill. “I flew Milba everywhere! We sold Milba when I got my commercial and my CFI at North Huntsville Airport. I flew a 182 RG to do the commercial in July 2002 and a Mooney for my CFI in October 2002.”
Flight Instructing
By age 21, she was putting her CFI ticket to work.
“I had a flight school called Jill’s School of Flight and I bought a Piper Cherokee 140 (N5363S). I started flight training in it and I loved that little Piper,” said Jill. “It was a beautiful plane, but I just wanted to get a Cessna. So I sold it and bought a 1971 Cessna 172 (N4387Q).”
Jill loved training students, and kept her flight school going for about six years.
She sold her 172 in 2008 when the economy tanked, and turned her focus to selling work/utility trucks. She and her husband started their business in 2003 and Gowen Wholesale Auto is still going strong. Interestingly, 95% of their customer base is nationwide, so customers frequently fly in to Jill’s home airport to conduct business.
Jill couldn’t stay away from the airport after she closed her flight school.
“I would go out to the airport every Sunday that I could and I’d fly Joe’s 172 and fly with him in the Fairchild PT-19, the Mustang II, the Piper Tri-Pacer, a Citabria, a Piper J-5, and a Piper J-3,” recounted Jill. “I’ve just done pleasure flying for years now, although I do keep my CFI current and still do flight reviews.”
Tailwheel Challenge
Jill readily accepts a challenge, and it was Joe who transitioned her to tailwheel flying. Jill earned her tailwheel endorsement in the award-winning J-5 that Joe restored.
“Learning tailwheel was definitely challenging — when you land, it just feels so uncontrolled, unlike a tricycle gear airplane,” she explained. “What helped me was Joe. He was so calm and he would say, ‘taxi the airplane, don’t ever quit taxiing the airplane. Just hold the stick back and taxi the airplane.’ That helped me to not get all anxious. It just made everything better.”
Personal Challenge
Tailwheel flying wasn’t the only challenge she tackled — she also took on a very personal challenge to reduce her weight.
“After I got married in 2004, it was easy to just kind of get settled in life and the habit of eating out every meal. I weighed about 220 pounds when we got married, and after about four years, I had gained up to 319 pounds. I was still flying, and getting into a 172 at 319 pounds was not fun. It was miserable and it was embarrassing when you’re taking up half of the airplane,” recalled Jill. “So one day in 2015, I just told myself, ‘I’m not going to live a long time like this.’ My husband had also gained a lot of weight, so we started using the Nutrisystem program. About a year and a half later, we each had lost about 110 pounds. We had to totally change our lifestyle. Instead of going out to eat every night, we went to the gym at night. We stuck with that plan and it really paid off, because it has been a life changer for me. I got back into flying more after I lost that weight, and I could even fit in the Mustang II.”
Now 42, Jill has logged around 1,500 hours. She and her husband have 10-year-old twin daughters, Cali and Cate, who might some day carry on the family flying tradition.
“They love flying and going with me, but as of right now, I’m not seeing that they have an interest in learning to fly like I did,” shared Jill. “I’m not going to force them to. I want them to come to me and say, ‘hey mom, I want to fly!’ Then I’ll teach them. My husband doesn’t fly, but he enjoys going with me. He knows I love flying, and he does not mind at all when I go flying on the weekends or even early afternoons when I leave the business to go fly.”
In October 2023, Jill’s fervent dream of owning her own airplane again came to fruition. It took her a while to figure out what she wanted to buy. Finally, she reasoned that they’d likely be taking family trips, and if the twins wanted to bring friends along, she’d need a six-place airplane.
“This Cherokee Six is really the first pleasure aircraft that I’ve bought just to be mine and fly wherever I want to,” said Jill.
N419LJ is powered by a 300-hp Lycoming, carries 84 gallons of fuel, and has about a four-hour range. Jill’s longest cross-country to date in her Cherokee Six was flying home to Lawrenceburg from Labelle, Florida, where she purchased it.
Rising Above It
Modest about her achievements, her positive approach to life arises from an inner sense of serenity. Clearly, her involvement with aviation broadens and enriches her worldview.
“Flying just brings a peace to me. When I’m up there, I have no worries,” said Jill with a smile. “If I’ve had a rough day at work, I can just go flying and watch the sun set. Then I just feel like my day was great when I come back down. Even just sitting in the hangar talking to my airport friends makes my day better!”
Fleeman Field
Jill’s enthusiasm for all things aviation, as well as her pleasant disposition and business savvy, hasn’t gone unnoticed. A couple of years ago, she was appointed chairwoman of the Lawrenceburg-Lawrence County Airport board.
Most appropriately, the airport was formally named Fleeman Field in October 2024, as a tribute to Jay Fleeman and his family for their decades of devotion and support for the airport.
That family aviation heritage continues with Jill, who encourages others just as her Granddad encouraged her: “C’mon, let’s go flying!”
