Nibley teen flies 'like a girl' with local pilot after online bullying incident

Nibley teen flies 'like a girl' with local pilot after online bullying incident

(Karina Brown)


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NIBLEY, Cache County — A Nibley teen who made headlines after sparking online outrage when she disagreed with the slogan on a homecoming poster was given the opportunity to fly an airplane with a local pilot.

Nibley resident Alina Brown, 15, said she saw the poster at Mountain Crest High School Monday, Sept. 21 and was bothered by its message. The poster was made by students for the upcoming homecoming football game and had jeering messages against the other team with slogans like, "True Mustang or bust" and "You play ball like a girl."

Brown took a photo of the poster and took to Instagram to voice her concerns about the degrading message it was sending to women. Within hours of posting her comment and a photo of the poster, Brown received more than 700 comments from fellow students and friends, many of which included negative vulgar language against Brown. One comment on the thread included a death threat against another student and their family.


She did an excellent job. If that's what flying 'like a girl' is like, I want to fly like her.

–Patrick Wiggins


Local pilot Patrick Wiggins volunteers with Women of Aviation Worldwide and gives girls the opportunity to fly a plane in an effort to introduce them to the male-dominated field.

After he saw the news article about the backlash Brown received, Wiggins decided to offer her a free flight. He said he saw it as a good opportunity to help her continue fighting stereotypes.

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"A lowly 6 percent of pilots (in the U.S.) are female and so we are trying to increase that number by doing these free flights," Wiggins said. "I saw it as a good opportunity. … I think it was because of being raised by a single mother that I saw kind of the bad side of how women could be treated. And there's no way in this world that I want that to happen. I very much believe in the program."

Brown went flying with her mother, Karina Brown, and two of her younger sisters Tuesday at the Tooele Valley Airport in Erda. Wiggins gave each of them the opportunity to fly his Cessna 172 for about 20 minutes. Brown said she got to pilot the aircraft over the Salt Flats and that it was an empowering experience.

"I totally felt confident and empowered after that experience," Brown said. "I was like, 'I just flew a plane by myself.' I can do hard things."

Wiggins said he gave Brown a pin with pilot's wings to remind her that doing things "like a girl" isn't a negative thing.

"She did an excellent job," Wiggins said. "If that's what flying 'like a girl' is like, I want to fly like her."

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