Page 17 - Appendix A

1998 Black Female SUPT student

What would you say was the percentage of blacks was in your training class?

If memory serves, my UPT class was two flights of about 15 people each. So, a total of about 30
people... I was the only American black in the class. We had an international student from
Botswana for a while. He made it through ground school, but when we hit the actual flying
portion, he was kicked out of the program after a few weeks. I believe the issue was a language
barrier. So, 1 out of 30 is 3%.

Describe how the number of minorities in your pilot training environment compared to your
high school, college and home environment (growing up).

I was used to being the only black kid in the room during high school. I had a diverse high
school, but since I was in honors classes, it was basically me and one other black girl in all those
classes. The teachers used to get us mixed up even though we didn’t look alike. Since I went to

the Air Force Academy, the lack of minorities at pilot training did not surprise me. Very few of
my black classmates decided to even go to pilot training. So many opted for careers in
acquisition or personnel. Pretty sure I was the only minority in my major at USAFA. My home
environment was filled with minorities. I had two black parents and an older black sister. :) But
I left home (New York) at 17 and never came back due to my career.

If there was a significant difference describe what impact it had (if any) on your success in
training and why?

I will say that early on in pilot training, I made a cavalier comment about not wanting to end up
in bombers. For a brief time, bombers were an option on the T-1 side instead of where they

usually are, on the T-38 side. That comment amongst the white flight instructors morphed into
“She’s going to quit the program if she thinks she’s going to wind up with a bomber.” Not true.
I also heard that the white instructors thought they really needed to make sure I made it
through the program since I was a visible minority (woman and black). I ran across several
crusty, good old boy instructors (civilian contractors) in the flight simulator who thought I had
an “attitude.” There was no pleasing some of those guys at times.

In your opinion, does make a difference, regarding your success, how many other black pilots
are going through training at the same time as you? Why or why not?

I would have liked to have connected with more women going through pilot training. After one
girl dropped out, I wound up being the only female in my flight. It would have helped if I had

female instructors to provide a different take on the instruction. I didn’t fly with a female
instructor until I was halfway through T-1s and she was occasional guest help. There were two