Megan Rust: From Frontier Pilot to Mystery Novelist

Mystery writer Megan Rust shares a lot of similarities with Taylor Morgan, the crime-solving air ambulance pilot in her new book, Dead Stick.

Megan Rust Both are confident women who have pursued careers in one of the last frontiers for their gender. Both worked as pilots in the southwest Alaska community of Bethel. And both aren't afraid to push ahead when other people tell them to turn back.

But even the fictional exploits of the gutsy Taylor Morgan pale by comparison to Rust's real-life story of how she cheated death after a serious head injury and found a new career as an author.

"I thought I'd never fly again, but here I am, flying on the page," she says. "I can do things I never thought of doing in a real airplane."

Flying was in the blood for the 40-year-old Rust. Her father, Hank Rust, was stationed in Anchorage as an Air Force pilot in the 1950s and started an air charter service after leaving the military. Rust's Flying Service is now operated by Megan's brothers, Todd and Colin.

Growing up, planes and flying were no big deal for Megan, and aviation was not her first career choice. "It never occurred to me," she said. "I guess I was socialized to think that's not something a girl or woman is supposed to do."

She decided she would be a biomedical engineer, designing heart pumps and artificial limbs. But after three grueling semesters at Washington State University at Pullman, she was not getting the A's she received in high school, and it wasn't long before she followed in her father's footsteps.

During a break from college she took her first flying lesson and was hooked. "I said, 'Forget biomedical engineering, I'm meant to be a pilot.' "

She transferred to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., and earned a degree in aeronautical science in 1979, picking up her instrument, multi-engine, and flight-instructor ratings along the way.

Rust returned to Alaska, where she had a series of jobs hauling passengers and freight around the state.

It was in Bethel in 1984 that an accident on the ground nearly claimed her life and ended her flying career.

On a warm June day, she had just returned from a flight to the village of St. Marys. She was walking across the tarmac as a forklift operator unloaded cargo from a nearby plane. The forklift, which was not equipped with a warning signal, backed up and ran over Rust, crushing her pelvis and skull.

She went into a coma and was flown to a hospital. "I'm told I stopped breathing twice. Fortunately, a public health service nurse was on board the aircraft with me and resuscitated me," she said.

Doctors held up little hope she would live, let alone recover. But slowly, over a period of two months, she came out of her coma.

Her doctors in Anchorage decided she needed more intensive rehabilitation and sent her to Craig Hospital in Denver, which specializes in brain and spinal injuries.

There, she spent five long months learning to walk again and talk and do all the simple, daily tasks she'd once taken for granted.

Rust made a remarkable recovery. But it wasn't enough.

"I started getting sick of rehab and wanted to get back to flying. I was convinced that I would be able to get back to it. But, unfortunately, that's not the way it works," she said.

Problems with coordination and her reflexes made it impossible for her to get a medical certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration. Even flying as a passenger in a small plane wasn't much fun anymore. Inner ear damage made her susceptible to airsickness.

"There was nothing to look forward to. I figured that I'd never find anything else that I'd enjoy as much," she said.

After taking a couple of clerical jobs for local air carriers in Anchorage, Rust thought she might like the creative problem-solving of an advertising career and enrolled in the University of Alaska Anchorage's school of journalism and public communications.

There, in a screenwriting class, she realized writing could put her back in the pilot's seat.

"For a final project we had to write an hour-long screenplay," Rust said. "Mine was an adventure story about a woman who flies in Bethel. I figured she'd have a bunch of adventures that were screen-worthy. As I was writing, I thought, 'Hey, this is a lot of fun.' "

Rust decided to become an author. "I figured, how hard could that be. I marched out and bought a computer and started working on the great American aviation novel. I wanted to stay with aviation because it gave me a good feeling to write about something I know."

After spending six days a week at her computer for nine months, she finally produced a manuscript -- an adventure story of a woman who makes her living flying in bush Alaska.

Her manuscript was rejected. When she wrote a second manuscript and it was turned down, a friend suggested she try writing a mystery, since she enjoyed reading mysteries. That one, too, was rejected.

But Rust was convinced she had a good story and tried another publisher. The book found its way to Tom Colgan, a senior editor at Berkley Publishing.

"It had a great setting and really appealing characters and a good mystery, too. Unfortunately, a lot of stuff that crosses my desk doesn't have a good mystery," Colgan said.

Colgan asked Rust if she had any other stories for pilot Taylor Morgan. From there, it was a simple matter of rewriting the first two adventure stories, playing up the aviation mysteries in each.

Berkley signed Rust to a three-book contract, with an option for a fourth. The first book, Dead Stick, was shipped to stores last June.

Holding her first book in her hands is an experience that rivals her first solo flight.

"This is more gratifying," she said. "This is really the silver lining in the dark cloud that's been hovering over me for the past 13 years."

By Maureen Clark

Reprinted with permission of the Associated Press