Christen Otto

Please welcome Christen Otto, who has been helping out with social media for several months!

Christen’s interest in aviation sparked early—first during a small airplane ride on a family vacation in middle school and later solidified when a high school friend flew her to Philadelphia just to grab a “Philly in Philly” (cheesesteaks). That sense of adventure led her to leave home at age 20, landing in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she took a job at a busy FBO.

While working there, she met her now husband, Trever, a licensed pilot working through his ratings at a local flight school. At the time, Trever owned a Grumman Yankee (AA-1A), and together they spent years flying throughout Florida and along the East Coast. After Trever was hired by Air Wisconsin Airlines, they moved to Virginia, where Christen worked in accounting and office management at a law firm for over a decade. During that time, they launched and ran a successful aircraft repossession business—an adventurous chapter in their journey. After the birth of their first child, they relocated to Trever’s home state of Wisconsin, where they now raise their two children,Tanner and Aislyn.

Over the years, Christen and Trever have owned and sold 14 different aircraft. Today, they’ve settled on two favorites: a Maule M5 and a classic 1940 Piper J-3 Cub. For the past seven years, Christen has owned and operated an aviation business specializing in logbook digitization and auditing, combining her professional background with her aviation passion. Her husband is a First Officer with Southwest Airlines. On warm summer evenings, she enjoys flying low and slow in the Cub with Trever—door open, soaking in the beauty of Wisconsin from their private grass strip. She also rides motorcycles and gravitates toward anything adventurous.

As a family, they love traveling in their Maule, often camping under the wing—from quick weekend getaways to cross-country adventures. One of their most memorable trips was a bucket-list flight from Wisconsin toIdaho’s Johnson Creek, with stops at several national parks along the way. Though not a licensed pilot, Christen enjoys taking the controls—and continues adding to her aviation story. She grew up in Maryland, surrounded by the Chesapeake Bay, where a love of water and boating first took root.

Christen can be reached at cotto@theraf.org.