Aletha didn’t chase aviation — it found her. At 10 years old, the sound of a low-flying plane overhead stopped her mid-conversation with a neighborhood friend. In those few seconds, watching it pass, something clicked. By 16, she’d biked to the Spencer, Iowa airport for her first flight lesson — without telling her parents.

That moment never left her. She earned degrees in Aviation Management and Broadcast Meteorology from Iowa State University, then began her career as a full-time flight instructor at the Des Moines Airport. Over the years, she logged more than 2,750 flight hours across single-engine, multi-engine, turbine, and helicopter aircraft — and sold new Piper and Beechcraft airplanes to pilots at every stage of their journey. Her first aircraft sale was a Piper Malibu Mirage.

A few years spent building financial and operational leadership skills in real estate and banking sharpened her instincts rather than pulling her away — she returned to aviation because she never really left it.

Today, Aletha is an IADA-Certified Broker working alongside Lone Mountain Aircraft, an IADA-accredited dealer trusted for its integrity across hundreds of transactions each year. She brokers aircraft globally — piston, turbine, jet, and helicopter.

But more than the aircraft she sells, Aletha is known for how she sells them — with the kind of honesty, follow-through, and attention to detail that turns clients into lifelong relationships. She’s also a contributing writer for Midwest Flyer Magazine, sharing her insights on aviation and aircraft ownership with readers across the region.