Female Airline Pilots - Is it a Good Career Choice for Women?

Female airline pilots – Is it a good career choice for a woman?

Paula Williams:  Is it a good career choice for a women to be an airline pilot?

Captain David Santo: Yes. Absolutely. I don’t think there’s any difference between the career opportunities for men and women. Specifically, Paula I’ll tell you why: Because the airlines do things by seniority, by date-of-hire seniority. That takes all of the bias out of it. If a men and a women are hired at the same date, they’re going to upgrade with the same opportunities. They’re going to have everything the same right on down the line. 
 I think women are very successful pilots. I’ve flown with many of them. I think they’re very level headed. I enjoy the opportunity to work with them because they finesse the airplane a little bit differently then I think guys do. As far as the career opportunity, absolutely this is a career where once you get into an airline there really is not going to be a difference.

Paula Williams: Great. Have there been women go through AeroStar program and be successful with that?

Captain David Santo: We have had a number of women go through AeroStar. We’ve had students as young as twenty go through a type rating program. We’ve had a women that was near her sixties go through a type rating program. We’ve seen the success rate really is equal with the guys that have come through. We had a young lady came through our type rating program. I’ve asked her if I could use her name. She said I could. Her name is Julie Meade. She was a Comair pilot. Comair went out of business. She took an opportunity to use work improvement act money from the State of Kentucky and came through. Did a type rating with us, and she has complete the phase one with a major airline to fly the A320. Is waiting to hear on the phase two interview. We’re expecting to see her hired very quickly, flying an A320 within the next few months.