Alina Angel Chasing New Dream May 2026

“I threw up after my third lesson,” she admits, laughing. “My instructor, a retired Air Force pilot named Vlad, just looked at me and said, ‘Good. Now you know your limit. Tomorrow we push past it.’ That’s the same language my gymnastics coach used.”

The physical transition was also jarring. Gymnasts are trained to be compact, grounded, and explosive. Pilots need endurance, situational awareness, and a calm physiological response to g-forces and altitude changes. Her first few flights in a Cessna 172 left her battling motion sickness—a humbling experience for a woman who once spun at dizzying speeds without flinching. alina angel chasing new dream

“We put so much pressure on young athletes to define themselves by their sport,” she writes in her latest post. “But a dream is not a destination. It’s a direction. You can change direction. You can climb higher. You just have to be brave enough to let go of the last bar and reach for the next one.” “I threw up after my third lesson,” she admits, laughing