Montana News

Female Pilot Reflects On 25 Year Navy Career

Montana Public Radio | By Sally Mauk

Published November 10, 2014 at 5:20 PM MST

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T-34C formation solo flight, Pensacola, FL.

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Elisa Raney at Aviation Officer Candidate School, Pensacola, FL.

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Flight school, T-34C solo. Pensacola, FL.

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Flying a new MH-60S, en route from Lockheed Martin facility in Owego, NY for delivery to a squadron in San Diego.

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Launching an F-18 Hornet from the flight deck of the USS Nimitz, Persian Gulf.

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Picking up a vertical replenishment (VERTREP) load.

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H-46 sunset VERTREP, somewhere in the Mediterranean.

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Good advice from within the International Zone, Baghdad.

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Hitchhiking from Baghdad.

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Designated a Naval Aviator and received my “Wings of Gold".";

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Elisa Raney's Change of Command and Retirement ceremony onboard the USS Constitution, Boston Harbor.

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Retirement ceremony flag presentation. This flag was flown over the USS Constitution in honor of my father, for his constant love and support.

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Work hard, play hard.

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H-46 pilots onboard USS Seattle, Desert Storm.

Retired Captain Elisa Raney’s 25 years as a helicopter pilot in the Navy included serving in the Gulf and Iraq wars, and surviving a crash into the Red Sea.

The Virginia native spent last summer in Missoula and took time to talk with senior news analyst Sally Mauk about her military service. That conversation is the focus of this half-hour Veterans Day special.

Raney was intending to go into the Peace Corps after she finished her civil engineering degree at Virginia Tech. Her third year in college, a Navy recruiter told her she could become a pilot if she joined the Navy: