Jefferson City teen flying high as state's youngest pilot

Anastasia Crenshaw poses beside her single-engine Cessna on Sunday at the Jefferson City Memorial Airport. At 17, she's one of the youngest pilots in Missouri.
Anastasia Crenshaw poses beside her single-engine Cessna on Sunday at the Jefferson City Memorial Airport. At 17, she's one of the youngest pilots in Missouri.

While her peers at Jefferson City High School were getting their driver's licenses, Anastasia Crenshaw was aiming higher.

Last month, the JCHS junior became the youngest licensed pilot in Missouri - a fleeting status she may have already lost. (Whenever someone obtains a license on or near his or her 17th birthday - the legal age to get a pilot's license - he or she briefly inherits the status.)

Still, being a girl pilot is uncommon in a hobby and profession dominated by men. But Crenshaw doesn't let herself be constrained by conventions, and she shoots for ....

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