‘The best office is a cockpit,’ Christyna Assink says
Women commercial pilots today constitute only 5.14 percent of the active airline workforce in the United States, according to statistics from the International Society of Women Airline Pilots (ISA) in 2020. Women in Aviation (WAI) on its website, wai.org, in January of 2022 claims women pilots represent only six percent of the total pilot population although it has more than 15,000 members worldwide.
LYNDEN — Christyna Assink, who makes her home in Lynden with her family, grew up on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan also known as the U.P. separated from the rest of Michigan by the Straits of Mackinac.
(According to Wikipedia, residents are known as “Yoopers” and some want it to be a separate state. The region is home to few people and lots of tourists and wildlife – moose, wolves, coyotes, deer, foxes, bears, bobcats, eagles, hawks, owls and other animals.)
Ever since she was a tiny girl, age 4, Assink knew she wanted the uniform and to fly. Even when her mother told her pilots needed to be good at math, which was a bit of a struggle (“I beat the odds”), Assink still wanted it badly.
From completing her private pilot’s license at 16, with the help of her grandfather for lessons, to teaching flight, getting her degree at Western Michigan University and then taking a plane out over the Gulf of Mexico to check on oil rigs, it’s what Assink has done her whole career and continues to do.
No other girls had this goal in her small town. Yet when traveling with family, she “liked the wings and the (flight) outfit.” Assink’s first instructor, “the best instructor,” called her “Chrissy.”
He was a special mentor, Assink said. There came the day where he pronounced Assink ready for her solo flight. “He believed in me.”
“I had no plan B.”
Assink did briefly consider studying law, and did take the LSAT entrance test, but “the best office is a cockpit.”
Back up to the details: Grandpa helped Assink acquire a green four-seater Cessna 172 with N3870R on its tail which she used to commute monthly for several hours from home to study aviation science/aviation management at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo where she kept it at a small airport while attending classes.
What’s the best part of flying? “Taking off and feeling the speed,” Assink said.
When flying in southeast Alaska, landings are significant too. Rather than aiming for a “smooth landing,” it’s best to have a bumpier landing and “set down since there is less runway.”
Before joining the ranks of the commercial pilots, Assink paid her dues working for regional airlines and got airtime by flying over the unmanned oil rigs to check for any oil leaks.
By then instrument rated, she moved to Houston in 2004 and was flying from David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport. Destinations were the Mississippi Delta and the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina using GPS coordinates to find the rigs. A concern was to be careful not to go outside the United States territory.
In 2006, Assink was hired for the regional carrier contracted for Continental, United and American.
“I was flying multi-million dollar aircraft while living in low-income housing,” Assink said of the first years. The pay was less than $25,000 a year as a first-year pilot. Many also don’t realize flying in smaller planes is without air conditioning and was, and is, downright hot. Assink was learning to fly at a location in Arizona which was bumpy with updrafts.
The plane went up and down quite a bit just like the industry itself. But … “I would never do anything else.”
Friends Katie and Marshall Norman played matchmaker to Assink and her husband Todd, who grew up in Lynden. Marshall was a captain with United Express to Assink’s First Officer role.
The introduction to Todd took and not only have they been married but they flew together work wise with United Express in the early days. (Before kids, the Assinks made sure to enjoy traveling and exploring throughout Europe and beyond into Scandinavia, Russia, Poland, and Egypt.)
Now more senior members of their respective flight crews, it is easier to put family schedules together. Once Assink gets her schedule with Alaska Air, then Todd bids on his. Based out of Bellingham, he is technically on call with Allegiant Airlines and able to be home quite a bit with days trips – up and back or to and from a destination.
In contrast, Assink has more three-day trips and has previously actually been based out of cities requiring her to commute there and then board another plane to work for seven years: Kansas City, Chicago, and Dallas.
“Commuting two time zones to work was brutal,” she said. “I knew I had to do what I could to get on a major airline.”
Children Cayden, born 2011, and Sadie, born 2014, have their parents’ sense of adventure. Cayden is in the martial arts and Sadie loves soccer.
Interviews for piloting positions are a bit different than for other careers. She went to job fairs and faced two-day interviews. By the time you apply for commercial piloting positions, “they know you can fly. They know you can train and learn different planes.”
The age of retirement has changed and Assink has seen pilots delaying retirement.
Assink even received an unusual comment from a member of the hiring committee.
“He shook my hand and said, ‘Thanks for making it seem not like being in a dentist chair’,” she said.
Advice to others considering being a pilot: Networking is crucial.
“If you fail, pick yourself up and keep going,” Assink said. “Stick to it.”
-- Note: Elisa met Christyna Assink and her family in spring of 2020 while writing an article for the Tribune about their home. At one time Elisa went through ground school for flying. Her late mother used to work for Pan American and United Airlines in a more glorious era.
SIDEBAR: Where Christyna Assink went, while many stayed home
LYNDEN — Christyna Assink flies a lot. While many Americans stayed home a good portion of 2020 through 2021, she puts on a uniform, drives down to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport from Lynden, and takes her seat in the front of the plane as one of the pilots.
While the recent snowstorms were keeping many off of the roads, Assink was driving in the middle of the night to be to the airport to then fly.
It’s not all glamour or glory. Delays can happen.
Not so long ago, there were issues at times with deicing planes, handling upset or inebriated passengers, and even a passenger’s cat got out of its carrier and was leading flight attendants on a chase.
It settled into First Class, she said. It didn’t like waiting either.
On another trip, it was a dog that escaped.
Alaska Air flies all over – and so does deicing planes. Assink has found her way into parts of Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, and a bit of places in between.
Alaska also recently added Belize into the routes.
The pilots based out of Seattle-Tacoma are Alaska specialty qualified to go into the Arctic.
No other airlines route through the canyons in that region.
Deadhorse, Alaska is 10 miles from Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean. deicing planes does the milk run through the cities and villages: Adak (ADK), Anchorage (ANC), Barrow (BRW), Bethel (BET), Cold Bay (CDB), Cordova (CDV), Dillingham (DLG), Fairbanks (FAI), Gustavus (GST), Juneau (JNU), Ketchikan (KTN), King Salmon (AKN), Kodiak (ADQ), Kotzebue (OTZ), Nome (OME), Petersburg (PSG), Prudho Bay (SCC), Sitka (SIT), Wrangell (WRG), Yakutat (YAK). More of these routes are in the summers.
Winters, Assink aims for destinations in Hawaii, Florida, Houston, and Nashville. For the flights with layovers she has found ways to enjoy things such as hiking Mt. Roberts in Juneau or on Diamond Head in Honolulu.
While in New York City, she made her way to Central Park and also to Ellis Island to tour the remains of what immigrants saw coming into our country for so long and to research.
Whatever Assink chooses to do, she needs to make sure there is plenty of time to get back to the airport.
For a portion of Ellis Island, she had to wear a hard hat as the old hospital is not in good shape.
Assink said she learned at one time Ellis Island was one of three Oyster Islands: partly in New York and in New Jersey.
Patients with disease could be separated into different hospitals.
While in Florida, Assink saw alligators in a pond and explored Safety Harbor, Florida which got its name because no hurricanes have hit there. Her grade school children joined her in Nashville to visit friends and go to the zoo, the Johnny Cash Museum & Café, Ryman Auditorium, and the Grand Ole Opry. The whole family early in 2020 went hiking in national parks.
The food is another memorable piece of being in different cities: jambalaya in New Orleans at the Tabasco brand company, corned beef sandwiches at Katz’s Delicatessen in New York city, and barbeque at Jack’s BBQ in Nashville. There is even a Taco Bell Cantina in Nashville that has live music and beer.
One memory of working for Alaska Air in particular: Years ago an Alaska Air plane hit a salmon – in the air. An Alaska Airlines blog from Feb. 5, 2015 “Throwback Thursday: Windshield sushi – Alaska jet really did hit a fish in midair.”
A clip of the newspaper from April 1, 1987, from the Associated Press talks of a fish delaying a flight for an hour while it was inspected for damage. Where did the fish come from? It was dropped by a bald eagle also sharing the airways.
Another great memory was seeing “a 95-year-old on his first flight in a wheelchair. He was so excited.”