“It’s one of my favorite things to talk about,” Cotter said.

Cotter became interested in flying while a student at Southwestern Central School.

Cotter was a Vacation Bible School Counselor at Hillcrest Church, in Jamestown, when she talked with Maureen Webb, a commercial airline pilot. Webb had two sons in the VBS program

After that conversation, Cotter, then 15 years old, wanted to know more, so, about a week later, the two met for lunch, and discussed what Webb did for a living.

In June 2023 Megan Cotter at the Chautauqua County Airport after she received her private pilot’s license.

“She pulled out her computer and she showed me this whole PowerPoint,” Cotter said about Webb’s day-to-day work. “She showed me a picture of what the inside of her cockpit looked like that she flew. And I was like, wow, this is really cool. So that definitely sparked my interest.”

In 2019, when Cotter turned 16, she said her grandfather heard that she was interested in flying and booked a discovery flight with Randy Nalbone, originating from the Jamestown Airport, now officially known as the Chautauqua County Airport.

“I got to the ground, and I was like, ‘this is the coolest thing ever. I would love to do it,'” Cotter said.

So during her senior year at SWCS, Cotter was looking at colleges and career opportunities, but remembered her conversation with Webb. Webb told Cotter that she decided to have children later in life because of her commitment to being a pilot.

Upon hearing that information, Cotter did not know if that kind of commitment was for her, so Cotter decided to follow a path in graphic design.

Megan Cotter competed for the Liberty University Belles, and her team placed second in the 48th Air Race Classic. Submitted photo

The 2021 SWCS graduate enrolled in the Rochester Institute of Technology for graphic design.

“So I kind of switched paths and pursued graphic design after high school. … I have always been artistic,” Cotter recalled.

Then COVID-19 took up residency, and slowed schooling for many students.

Cotter then enrolled at Jamestown Community College with a concentration in graphic design.

Cotter had the intent of transferring her JCC credits to RIT. Cotter was all set to return to RIT – she had paid her security deposit for her apartment – but after phone conversation with a counselor from RIT, Cotter learned that her credits from JCC would not transfer.

So, after a talk with her mother, Cotter rekindled her affinity for flying.

And she went back to aviation.

In 2022, she reached out again to Nalbone, and she began flight training at Chautauqua County Airport in October.

“I didn’t really know what direction I was going to go with it. I knew I just kind of wanted to get into a plane,” Cotter added.

In December 2022, Cotter flew her first solo flight.

“And then, that’s kind of what gave me the bug (to keep flying),” Cotter said.

She contacted RIT and said that she was not returning to campus to be a student in the graphic design program as she had reached her burnout point with art and design.

“I still haven’t done much (art or graphic design) to this day since then, but I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do, and aviation was,” Cotter noted.

In June 2023 she received her private pilot’s license, and according to atpflightschool.com, regional and commercial airlines don’t require college degrees, but she still wanted to continue her schooling.

So she started planning for her education and applied to six different school with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Liberty University as her top two choices.

As soon as she visited Liberty, she knew it was her choice. She started classes in August 2023 and is scheduled to graduate in December with a bachelor’s in Commercial Corporate Aviation.

While at Liberty, Cotter is part of Liberty Belles air racing teams. In June, Cotter and her team placed second, out of 18 collegiate teams, in the 48th annual Air Race Classic, which was themed “Crossing the Continental Divide.” The race began in Alabama, and flew over Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and finished in Washington state.

The ARC got its start in 1929 and was first named the Women’s Air Derby in which 20 pliots raced from Santa Monica, Calif., to Cleveland. The race was stopped in 1977, and then reincorporated in 2002 – airraceclassic.org.

After graduation, Cotter intends on staying at Liberty as a flight instructor.