The 29-year-old said she got a few double takes when people learnt she could fly helicopters but still could not drive a car.
"I never really needed to drive, so I haven't," she said.
Coming from the small fishing village of Baldoyle, north of Dublin, Miss McCormack said everything was within walking distance, so she never bothered to learn to drive.
Flying, on the other hand, was something the former chef and bookmaker had always wanted to try.
Helicopters were a constant presence near her home on the Irish coast, and after some research on international instructors' ratings she decided to pursue her dream of learning to fly, in Wanaka.
She admitted to a few initial nerves during her maiden trip in control of a helicopter, but the experience of driving a car for the first time was far more nerve-racking.
"Flying is so much more fun - and peaceful. The first time round, I was just awestruck. It was total excitement and I was hooked," she said.
Driving does not rate so well with the commercial pilot graduate.
"I'm more nervous in the car. You're on the ground, you've got obstacles, traffic is coming at you. There's less going on in the air," Miss McCormack said.
She usually arranged a lift with one of her fellow flying students, or her helicopter pilot flatmate, for the 11km trip to Wanaka airport.
Her Wanaka Helicopters instructor, Andy Clayton, said Miss McCormack's inability to drive cars did not impact at all on her learning to fly helicopters - except when it came to refuelling.
"I had to spend more time teaching her how to drive the tractor, so she could pull the fuel tank alongside the aircraft," he said, laughing.
With more than 150 hours' flying time logged, and a new commercial ratings licence, learning to drive was the next goal on her "to do" list, Miss McCormack said.
"For sure, I've had a couple of lessons from some of my friends recently. But I think that's more to do with them not believing that I'd never ever driven before," she said.
