Diane Ballweg can be identified by a number of interests and titles. She’s a business owner, a teacher, a criminal justice reformer, a philanthropist, a patron of the arts, and a licensed pilot. The latter has not only given her an amusing moniker — The Pink Pilot — it has prompted her to write a new book about the joy of flying: Into the Wind, Above the Clouds: Love at First Flight.
The book, which she began to write during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, is out in hardcover and Ballweg is busy making public appearances to promote it. After several delays — including time spent caring for an ailing mother — completing it was a 2024 New Year’s resolution she was determined to keep.
And keep it, she did. “It was a life-changing experience to get my pilot’s license, and I learned so much from it that I wanted to share — and hopefully inspire and motivate others,” said Ballweg, who has logged more than 2,000 hours of flight time, landed at 371 different airports, and flown above five of the world’s seven continents since earning her pilot’s license in 1997.
Chapter and verse
Ballweg, owner of Endres Manufacturing, a local steel fabricating company founded in 1926 by her grandfather, has written several articles for flying magazines, but writing a book was an exercise in self-discovery. Each of its 30 chapters ends with a lesson learned from flying, including one reinforced by her experience teaching at Edgewood High School and lecturing as part of Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI): When one teaches, two learn.
While Ballweg devotes portions of the book to the technical knowledge and jargon pilots need to know, it’s the experiences that leave the strongest impression. Perhaps the most memorable one was a trip to Africa, made all the more special because her daughter, Kate Marquardt, accompanied her.
“We flew over the Kalahari Desert, just the two of us, and saw herds of giraffes and elephants,” she said, “and we flew over Victoria Falls and it really is just amazing to see that open space. … I never would have thought that I would have done that in my earlier life — ever.”
Not that she was idle in that earlier life, as Ballweg’s background is an example of lifelong learning. She has four degrees, including a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in educational administration from Edgewood College, and a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She also has an honorary doctorate from Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, an institution with five aviation degree programs, and internship opportunities at nearby Chicago O’Hare and Midway international airports. Ballweg actually flew students to Lewis University, sponsored a scholarship there, and has been a guest speaker.
During her varied career, Ballweg also taught special education and music at Edgewood High School, and she developed and taught a high school aviation class at Edgewood for 20 years — until COVID rudely interrupted. In addition, her lifelong education has been augmented by service on more than 20 nonprofit boards and local, state, and national agencies. As president of the Endres Manufacturing Foundation, which annually distributes about $100,000 to local nonprofits, Ballweg has a good understanding of the community’s philanthropic needs.
That she also took an interest in aviation speaks to another life lesson cited in the book — the importance of spreading your wings (pardon the pun) and getting out of your comfort zone. In so doing, her aviation experience has helped her in other aspects of life, and two benefits come to mind: she no longer feels invisible, and she has learned what it means to be in command.
“When I say that I teach aviation or that I’m a pilot, people go ‘really,’ and then the conversation starts. So, for some reason, becoming a pilot made me feel visible, and the second one has to do with being the PIC — the pilot in command [in the cockpit],” she said. “I always did what my parents wanted me to do, and I always followed all the rules for everything, and so learning that you’re the PIC means you’re the only one up there in the air that sees what the real weather is.
“I’ve learned that you have to speak up and that you have to speak for yourself because you’re the only one that knows who you are and what you can do or can’t do.”
One of the things she can do is share the love of flying, and the importance of being an active participant in your own life, with young people. In the early 1990s, the Experimental Aircraft Association’s (EAA) Pilot Association established a Young Eagle program in which volunteer pilots give free introductory flights to kids ages 8 to 17. Ballweg has piloted more than 200 Young Eagle flights, and one of the beneficiaries was 8-year-old Philip Sorge, son of Bob Sorge, president and CEO of the Madison Community Foundation.
“I remember gripping the seat tightly as Diane handed over the controls to him — and even more so the endless 8-year-olds that would come up and ask whether Philip [now 23] flew a plane,” said Sorge, one of several Madison executives who wrote an endorsement for the book. “Yes, he did and it was a tremendous, positive experience for him.”
Full flight plan
While the experience of being a pilot in command has helped her personal growth, Ballweg’s visibility as a pilot has been an invitation to conversations she might not have otherwise enjoyed. Last fall, she piloted a plane to Detroit for a meeting of fellow members of the National Committee for the Performing Arts, an advisory board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The trip not only enabled her to reconnect with fellow board members, but also visit the Henry Ford Museum.
“That’s another great group to be with, but I flew over to Detroit all by myself, landed the plane, and that’s another example about becoming visible,” she said. “The Kennedy Center people are from all over the country and several are business leaders, and they said, ‘You flew yourself in? Oh, really?’ And then they start talking, laughing, and smiling about what I did and what I saw.”
Ballweg, who is working with local writer Doug Moe on a book to commemorate the forthcoming 100th anniversary of Endres Manufacturing, packed her own book with humorous stories, including the recollection of a pilot who remembered more about his first flight than his first kiss. Such is the romance of flying that Ballweg conveys in the book, and that fondness for flight has given her a greater appreciation of how beautiful the world is and why it’s important for people to be good stewards of it.
“I say regularly to people that we don’t take enough time to notice it, and more people in the world need to cherish that,” she said. “When I see the news and I hear about bombings and air strikes and people destroying land and property, I think that if we all could cherish our Mother Earth, we’d realize that we’re all one family.”
Renee Moe, president and CEO of United Way of Dane County, who also wrote an endorsement for the book, isn’t surprised that Ballweg wanted to share her love of flying, and the lessons it teaches, with others. That impulse is perfectly aligned with the character trait she most admires in Ballweg — her sense of hospitality. Moe has seen that trait in Ballweg’s effort to uplift others through her criminal justice reform advocacy with the Madison Justice Team, her interest in local housing initiatives, and her support of education and the arts.
“Wherever she goes, she extends goodwill and welcome to everyone she meets,” Moe said. “Every stranger is a friend to be made and someone to learn from.”
Sorge cited gratitude, especially about her experiences, as the character trait he most admires in Ballweg.
“She does not take life for granted,” he said. “There’s no putting things off to tomorrow. Many of her stories reflect that not only did something occur, but she experienced it. It’s a fact that she landed at the Cassville [Wisconsin] airport as one of her 400 landings, but she also took the time to look around and appreciate the unique experience of being at that particular airport. Gratitude is always about perspective, and Diane’s perspective is that the glass is always half full.”
Perfect landing
During her book presentations, Ballweg’s advice for readers is to consume her book one chapter at a time and absorb one end-of-chapter life lesson each day.
“The life lesson learned at the end is kind of like the thought of the day,” she said. “How does that apply to you? What does it say to you? How does it speak to you?”
Forthcoming presentations
Diane Ballweg will appear at book presentations during the next few weeks and months, including:
• Wednesday, January 22, at 6 p.m., at Mystery to Me bookstore, 1863 Monroe St., Madison;
• Thursday, Feb. 6, at 11:45 a.m. and 12:20 p.m., during a Wisconsin Book Festival event at the McKinley Performing Arts Center, Edgewood High School, 2219 Monroe St., Madison; and
• Thursday, Feb. 13, at 6:30 p.m., at Waunakee Public Library, 201 N. Madison St., Waunakee.
