Steve Lipstraw’s life story reads like a tale from idyllic Americana – a sweet, churchgoing, Midwestern farm boy dreams of becoming a pilot and traveling the world. He leaves the comfort and security of the third-generation family farm in Lindsey, Ohio, to strike out west, get an education and soar above the earth, marveling at the miniscule beauty of the world below.
Lipstraw, a professional flight sophomore at Arizona State University, grew up on 600 acres of soybeans, corn and cattle. His childhood was steeped in the history and wonder of aviation. Lipstraw’s father is an enthusiast who often took him to visit Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, his uncle was a private pilot and another relative flies for American Airlines. By the time he was 5, he knew he wanted to be a pilot. When he took his first commercial-airline flight in sixth grade, his love was cemented.
“I thought, ‘This is so cool!’” Lipstraw says. “I liked the feel of the airport. There were so many things going on at once.”
He chose ASU for the flight program at Polytechnic, which he says is nonpareil.
“They teach professionalism and are all about airlines,” Lipstraw says. “All of the faculty have real flying and airline experience. With other schools, it was like, ‘Well, one guy works for an airline.’"
Lipstraw has logged about 150 hours of flying the Piper Warriors and Beechcraft Bonanzas the flight program’s instructors (all currently ASU alumni or students) use to teach their students. He is working on his instruments certificate, which involves flying with low visibility. He still gets excited each time he flies, whether as pilot or passenger.
“It’s pretty awesome, just being able to lift off and go somewhere,” Lipstraw says. “There’s a sense of defeat – we’re supposed to stay down here, and yet we can lift off into the air. Especially when you’re piloting the plane, it’s amazing.
“But I also like being a passenger and getting to watch things…I always get the window seat. It’s one of the perks of being a silver medallion member (a Delta Air Lines frequent-flyer status level). I get to pick where I sit, which is a cool thing.”
In addition to his studies and flight training, Lipstraw is a student worker at the Simulator Building, the base of operations for flight students and home to five flight simulators. Lipstraw does clerical work, assists professors and gives tours of the building to visitors (usually prospective students and their parents). His knowledge of the building, the program and the planes is encyclopedic and he anticipates tour-taker’s questions so well that people rarely have any additional questions post-tour.
“I think he’s very respectful and professional and always greets everyone with a smile,” says Dr. Mary Niemczyk, chair of the department of technological entrepreneurship and innovation management, honors faculty and head honcho of the Simulator Building. “He’s very passionate about the program and aviation. He’s been bitten by the aviation bug and it shows. When he talks about it, he can’t stop smiling.”
Niemczyk has high hopes for Lipstraw’s future as a pilot.“He likes flying so much and will always set high standards for himself and strive to do the best,” Niemczyk says. “We get feedback from industry that our students do very well and transition well. They’re prepared for the real world of aviation because of how they’re taught here.”
Lipstraw’s ambition lies squarely with airlines.
“You generally start at regional airplanes, 50-75 seat airplanes, and work there for about five years,” Lipstraw says. “Then you move up to a major carrier. My goal is to live back in Ohio and be based out of (the airport in) Detroit. The cool part of being a pilot is that you can live anywhere.”
Eventually, Lipstraw wants to be an initial operation experience check airman – essentially, a captain that flies with rookie pilots and shows them how things are done.
“I can say, ‘Hey man, relax, we’ll have fun,’” Lipstraw says. “I think I’ll be good at that (teaching). It actually helps you learn more, too, when you explain something to other people.”
This inclination to teach and help is part of Lipstraw’s Midwestern charm, his friend and roommate Elijah Hite says.
“He’s a very genuine person and has a help-you-out-whenever-he-can spirit,” Hite, a professional flight sophomore, says. “He’s very humble, he’s not arrogant at all, which is great. Arrogance is not desirable (in aviation), it creates a lot of conflict.”
Lipstraw seems to be the farthest possible thing from the stereotype of a pilot as a cocky, impulsive hothead. He downplays his staggering knowledge of his craft and the volunteer work he does through aviation fraternity Alpha Eta Rho. Lipstraw is far more comfortable talking about planes than about himself.
“He’s kind of a shy person, but any time aviation is brought up, all timidity goes away,” Hite says. “He knows more than most when it comes to airlines and promotion of the flight program. He’s the first person to contact with any kind of question.”
He does say that he feels “pride and accomplishment,” when he flies.
“I’ve never been terrified,” Lipstraw says. “Obviously I get nervous when I do something new. I don’t want to crash and die. But some things are out of our hands and I try to just let it go. Life’s short.”
Contact the reporter at llemoine@asu.edu
