Teen of the Week: Christine Dullnig

Christine "Christy" Dullnig is well-grounded in service to her church and community. She's a straight-A student and hockey and soccer player, but she keeps her eyes on the sky.

Not content to remain earthbound, the 17-year-old Edgewater resident said she plans to spend a great deal of time soaring into the wild blue yonder. Her dream is to become a Navy pilot.

"My focus is aviation," she said. "I've lived next to Lee Airport my entire life. I used to come down every Sunday to watch the airplanes fly over."

And she's working up to her goal. Just last month, after only 13 or 14 flight hours, she did her first solo flight, flying a Cessna 172, the plane she has been learning to fly.

That solo flight was "a mixture of fear and joy when I came in for my landing and I realized there was 1,000 feet between me and my instructor," she said.

Her next test is a 100-mile flight with landings at a few other small airports in the region.

Certified flight instructor Robert Gardner, who has 35 years of experience, said, "All in all, Christy's a phenomenal young woman. She takes to flying like she's been doing it all her life, 100 years. Her first flight was in a light rain, but she was steady on the controls."

For her "stage check," she flew with a decorated Korean War veteran. Christy said he described her ability: "She flies and handles the radio and controls better than most private pilots I know."

Her instructor quickly signed her up for Ground School, run by the Navy Annapolis Flight Center. Most of the students are First Class Naval Academy midshipmen, hoping to land a berth at the Navy's flight school in Pensacola, Fla., after graduation. In her class, Christy was one of only two civilians enrolled.

Whether flying a plane or doing other activities such as charging a soccer ball or zipping across the ice hockey rink, the Archbishop Spalding High School student is a blur of movement.

She also is active in her community.

An active participant in the liturgy at Holy Family Catholic Church, Christy is a master altar server, having volunteered since she was 10. She trains younger servers, too, and is involved in at least one Mass every Sunday.

As co-leader of the youth group, she is the group's representative on the Baltimore Archdiocese Youth Advisory Council, and has performed community service at Sarah's House, Our Daily Bread and on behalf of the parish's sister church in Lima, Peru.

With South River High School friend Melanie Nayes, who is a budding photographer, Christy raises money for the Peruvian chapel by selling photos of parish kids seated with Santa or the Easter Bunny.

Also on land, she is a cadet staff sergeant and flight sergeant for the Civil Air Patrol, an Air Force auxiliary.

She was Cadet of the Month in October and is due to be promoted soon. The cadets often conduct search and rescue exercises for the black boxes of downed airplanes or sunken boats.

These exercises sometimes turn into the real deal.

She described an exercise: "With our 24-hour packs, which are heavy, and battle dress uniforms or camis, we trudge through different terrain with Emergency Location Transponder-finding equipment to locate the little black box." An ELT sends off a frequency on 122.5 when it feels a heavy impact, such as a plane landing too hard or a boat crashing, she said. That's how they find the location of a crashed plane or a boat.

"She ... has proven herself as an excellent person for the job as her leadership skills are so advanced," said Cadet Commander Warren Oxman, 16, a junior at South River High.

He added that Christy is his math tutor and his grades have markedly improved. "As a person there is nobody like her, she helps her friends when they need her most and is the most respectful person I've ever known," he said. "When she goes to college I will miss her spirit the most - even when things are tense she can bring the laughter and happiness out of anyone."

Mr. Gardner described the first time he met Christy: "She walked through the door at the Lee Airport Flying Club one day. Christy had a check in her hand. She said she wanted to take flying lessons."

Taken aback, Mr. Gardner asked if she had her parents' permission. Her answer was affirmative, but Mr. Gardner still needed to see a parent in the flesh. So her mother, Lisa Dullnig, arrived and gave her permission for her daughter to fly Cessna 172s.

Mrs. Dullnig and her husband, Paul, a stationary engineer, are the owners of PFD Mechanical, a consulting firm. Mrs. Dullnig also works part-time with Whaley & Associates.

Christy's only sibling, Robert, 21, is studying criminal justice at University of Maryland College Park.

Christy's dream is to become a member of the Naval Academy's Class of 2013 - and to eventually have a career as a military pilot.

"I want to wear the U.S. flag on my right arm. It's my passion; I can't put it into words," Christy said. "I'd like to be a transport pilot or a flight paramedic. I'm getting ready to take Emergency Medical Technician courses at Anne Arundel Community College."

She currently is applying for a Naval Academy nomination from her congressman. Applications also are being prepared for the U.S. Air Force and Coast Guard service academies.

Her final backstop is the aeronautical engineering program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Christy's grades are sky high, too.

She is a straight-A student at Spalding and a member of the National Honor Society.

When not in the air, Christy flies on ice.

She has been a member of Spalding's varsity ice hockey team since 10th grade. "It's a good team," she said, confident this season they will ice the competition.

She also has played two seasons on the school's JV girls soccer team, and has been active with Washington Area Girls Soccer, Baltimore-Beltway Soccer League and with county soccer teams. Her soccer coaches "put me in the best fitness condition and mind set I've ever had. They taught me how to really work out and love it," Christy said.

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To nominate a teen, e-mail wendi@quantumstep.com.