With one hour of flying time and a newly purchased Cessna 182Q, Carollyne Carmichel is on a mission.
She plans to earn her private pilot certificate on the way to visit all 120 listings on her Airbnb-like network for pilots called Fly-Inn.com, documenting every stop along the way with a videographer.
She hopes to complete that mission between the 2025 SUN ‘n FUN Aerospace Expo, which just wrapped up in Lakeland, Florida, and this summer’s EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Oshkosh.
The Fly-Inn properties are scattered across the country from Key West, Florida, to Chistochina, Alaska.
According to Carollyne, Fly-Inn.com was born “by accident.”
“My husband would always say, ‘let’s go flying,’ and it came to a point where I started saying, ‘as long as we don’t land,’ because we kept going to the same places over and over again. And then he blurted out something about Airbnb.”
When her husband, Eric, mentioned Airbnb, it triggered the idea for Fly-Inn.
“We have a property in an airpark in Utah, and I wanted to start putting it up so other pilots could stay there, just to share, not as a rental,” she said. “That’s really how it started, by making our property available.”
Carollyne worked with her daughter, Kenya Hodson, to create the network of Fly-Inn rentals exclusively for pilots, ranging from mansions to campsites and everything in between. All properties available on the website include tie-downs or hangars.
“We’re now on our fourth version of the website, which has an interactive map. Click on the dot, and it opens up on the listing, and you can learn about it right there. On this trip we’re going to visit all the dots.”
“We’re doing the entire lower 48 first, and then we’re going to Alaska,” she continued. “We were going to do Alaska in the middle, but all the hosts in Alaska said, ‘don’t come until June, because it’s prettier in June.’ We’re trying to get everything in before Oshkosh. But Alaska will be after we do all the lower 48.”
While visiting all the properties, Carollyne will learn how to fly along the way, accompanied by a series of CFIs, as well as a videographer who will record everything.
While Carollyne completed ground school before SUN ’n FUN, she hasn’t taken her written test yet.
Her CFIs for the journey include Cambrie Foster, Monique Creta, Khaled Alchahrour, and Colton Lee. They’ll each handle flight instruction in different parts of the country.
And it’s a win-win: The CFIs can share their knowledge with the new pilot, while her epic journey will allow the CFIs to get “lots of flight hours,” she said.
Videographer Thais Palmer will fly the whole journey to record the properties and stories of the hosts.
In addition to the video recordings, Carollyne will also film her journey using Ray Ban META glasses that transfer recordings to her cell phone.
Carollyne also invited several aviation influencers to fly a leg or two during her journey, including Cooper the Pilot, Just Plane Amber, Pilot Annabelle, and others.
The 1977 Cessna 182Q (N759AP) she is flying has a PPonk conversion and a Horton STOL kit conversion for extra horsepower and fixed gear. The aircraft was ferried to Lakeland by CFI Khaled Alchahrour.
“It’s going to be so fun to fly that airplane,” Carollyne said. “We really hope everyone follows us on our YouTube channel to see the inside and outside of the houses and to meet the hosts and hear their stories.”
Follow Carollyne’s journey on YouTube or through FlightAware by the N-number of her plane (N759AP).
For more information: Fly-Inn.com
