Vanna Gail rode in a helicopter for the first time after rafting down the Colorado River with a group tour. At the end of the trip, everyone loaded into choppers for the flight out of the Grand Canyon. As the steep red walls fell away beneath her feet, Vanna Gail felt an overwhelming desire to sit in the pilot’s seat.

At the time, Vanna Gail worked as an office manager. Her only flying experience was as a passenger on commercial airlines and one short ride in a Cessna when she was in junior high school. And, she got air sick every time she flew in a plane.

But Vanna Gail didn’t feel nauseous in the helicopter. She felt exhilarated. So two days after she got home from the Grand Canyon, she Googled “helicopter pilot training” “Montana” and called to sign up for lessons at the airport a few miles outside her trendy Rocky Mountain home town. After her husband got over the initial shock, he decided a chopper pilot partner could be über cool.

Now, Vanna Gail flies her own helicopter. During the summer, she contracts with the U.S. Forest Service and skims mountain ranges to drop supplies for fire fighters. In between fire runs, and during the rest of the year, she transports wealthy people from the airport to their remote “ranch” retreats and sets down near four-car garages with “His” and “Her” Hummers parked inside.

As her clients step out onto their private landing pads, Vanna Gail hands them her business card which reads, “A Chopper Runs Through It.”