“Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.” ~Eddie Rickenbacker, American Aviator & WWI Hero
Most of us assume all children and youth have dreams of the many things they want to do in life. Fun things. Happy activities. Sometimes dreams that seem silly. However, that is not what life had in store for Libby Myers, now a young woman of 16 years.
Just a couple of years ago, Libby finished the last of the surgeries she needed due to problems with bone growth in her legs. Her four years of surgery began in 2021 and included four double knee surgeries and two other surgeries on both feet, four plates and 10 screws. These years left her in a wheelchair for most of the time due to the pain, and always trying to heal.
Mom Neena says Libby was in a dark and depressing place in life during this time. She told her, “Mom, I’m never going to have a life.” It was heartbreaking for her parents who had struggled to conceive. Neena says she herself grew up without dreams and not expecting much from life, and she knew they did not want that for their daughter.
Being homeschooled helped Libby keep up with her work around her surgeries, but it also gave her a host of additional work that has made her into all she is—and what she is, is a woman becoming self-sufficient. She works on cars, knows how to do many things not even all adults can do; she is building a truck with her dad, Adam; she knows how to weld; she has kept the books and done payroll for the business where her parents work for four years now (yes, that means she began at 12). Neena says she’s always been certain that she wants her daughter to never be in a relationship because she needs someone who can do these things; she wants it to be only for love like her own 27-year marriage to Adam.
Life for Libby made an abrupt positive turn when she went on a call to work on a freezer with her dad at the Northern Oklahoma Flight Academy (NOFA). That’s where she met Bert Blanton, and the rest is history. Neena says, “Bert changed everything.” Bert is the director of NOFA, and he is a man who has far more life stories than the rest of us combined. He is interesting, and he is caring. When I asked Libby when she had come on that call with her dad, expecting her to give a year or maybe a month, she said, “Sept. 5, 2024.” She knows exactly when her life changed for the better. Libby became interested in the Academy and those who work there and who fly, and that interest piqued.
Libby went to the 2025 summer NOFA the first year after this meeting. The Academy became her “safe place,” and an interesting one it was for her. She claims she “bothered” people with her questions, and she was a “shadow” to many as she learned all she could from those already flying or working toward it. This summer she was already knowledgeable enough to work on NOFA staff as a training assistant the first week and sim (flight simulator) instructor during week two.
Watching Libby study landings on the flight simulator is interesting. She is intense and knows the importance, and yet she has fun. Her family made the boxes that each of the several simulators have under them to make the equipment the right height for those who practice flying on them. Bert says, “Libby is exactly the type of person these sims and the program are here for.” He appreciates her enthusiasm to meet her goals and is happy to mentor her along the way.
The young girl who was recently in a wheelchair is already over halfway through her required hours to solo. She passed the written exam needed on April 29 at 15, as well as the FAA medical exam earlier that month. Libby flew before she drove. Having turned 16 this past June, and receiving her driver’s license, Libby will likely complete her 40 required flight hours before she’s 17 years old, the age she must be to get her Private Pilot’s License. As a matter of fact, Libby is already working on her FOI (Fundamentals of Instruction) exam so that she can become a Certified Flying Instructor (CFI). She hopes to do for others what CFIs in Ponca City have done for her. She mentions ones like Alan Green who did training where it did not feel as tough as she thought it would be. Those who have trained her are good examples and very engaging, and she wants to be the same.
Mom Neena says, “Many people think dreams like this are not something they can do, but they literally are. All you have to do is put your mind to it.” When talking about Libby, she says, “I believe she can do anything. Can take flying as far as she wants.” Libby is an excellent example for her 9-year-old sister Octavia. While Neena gives credit to Bert and all the wonderful people at NOFA, Libby sees the support of them and of her parents. Libby says, “I can see myself working my way up and working with the airlines and being a CFI.”
When asked about her current goal, it is being in the air solo. While testing may be challenging, the dream of flight, especially solo flight, is freedom. Freedom far from that wheelchair and dark times. Libby is a young woman whose will and the support of others have moved her from a deep darkness into the brightness of the skies.
