Page 63 - World Airnews Magazine January 2020 Edition

WOMEN IN
AVIATION

TUCSON PILOT WINS

SAFE FLYING AWARD

s holiday travel kicks off, airlines are taking more than 31

Amillion people around the US. It’s a busy ti me of year for

the nation’s pilots, especially as numbers show there is a decline
in pilots. There are 633,317 civilian pilots in the US, according to
the latest FAA numbers.
About 46,500 of those are women - and half of those women are
students.

Recently, the FAA established Women in Aviation Advisory Board
because of this disparity and an overall pilot shortage.
The US Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao said, “Our nation

is facing a shortage of pilots and aviation professionals; there are

great opportunities in this sector, and we want to encourage more

women to enter these exciting professions.”
The pilot shortage isn’t new news. Last year the FAA said the you feel like when you fly, it’s so free,” said Harper.

number of pilots has decreased in the US by 30 percent since the She had to overcome many challenges in her career, she said
’80s, but at the same time, the International Air Transport Associa- mainly because she is a woman. In 1960, there were about 10,000

tion guesses air travel will double over the next 20 years. female pilots in the US.

A challenging field with a high demand might still have a glass “When I’d go pre-flight the plane, all the air mechanics …they’d

ceiling, but Barbara Harper, a pilot in Tucson broke flew through taken all these tiny little pieces of paper and wrote on them terri-

that ceiling. ble messages and stuck them in all the instruments of the plane, so
Her story starts when Harper lived in San Francisco as a young I had to pull out, I think there were over 200 of them,” said Harper.
adult but had to work in L.A. But now, 50 years later, she was awarded the Wright Brother
“So, every weekend, I’d fly commercial to San Francisco, and I Master Pilot Award. It’s given to those with more than 50 years of

thought, ‘I need to get a plane,’” said Harper. continuous safe flying. For Harper, it proves she, and anyone can

A little at a time, and over the course of several years, she did her do anything.

schooling, collected her licences and flew, mostly children at first. “Don’t let anybody stop you. Don’t let anybody stop you at any

She said adults are far too critical of pilots. time because there’s no such thing as a one-gender job. I haven’t

“I liked the challenge, and I just liked the feeling of what it makes found it yet, have you?” said Harper. Q

World Airnews | January 2020
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