Instagram is a platform that is full of images of fantastic destinations, incredible views, and even an opportunity to while-away time. There are numerous of commercial pilots on social media posting their trips, from which we have some special group of pilots on Instagram who has gained prominence, uploading their travels and career journey. Guess what, we have a good number of them who happen to be female.
Many years ago, it has been stereotyped that men are the one found flying the aircraft while the women serve the beverages. However, times and beliefs are constantly changing, though the gender gap between men and women in the cockpit is still very wide.
While it can not be disputed that the female pilots are still much fewer than their male counterpart, the female aviators that make up 4-6% of the pilot population are an impressive group and they hope to see more women join the league.
Now that the female pilots are increasingly common according to the industry statistics, Mireille Goyer of the Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide said there are just 7,000 female airline pilots in the US, and this is equivalent to about 5% of the total. However, there are currently 15,971 female student pilots, which is about 15%, of the system at the present. She stated that the gender gap has started closing since the up-close and personal introduction to aviation and meeting local relatable role models.
The Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide said that the good news here is that the recent female student pilot statistics are encouraging. Which means that there will be more women that will soon be taken to the skies in the cockpit and not the cabin.
Today, there are numerous of pilots that make use of the Instagram to tell their story, inspire others, and have fun while doing it. Perhaps you’re looking forward to the chance of flying with them or spot anyone of them on your travels, or better still, if you’re looking for some female pilot that are inspiring who you can make your role models and mentors, here are some fantastic female pilots on Instagram you can start following.
1. Maria Pettersson @pilotmaria
Maria Pettersson was born in Sweden but she is currently based in England. Her very first commercial airline flight experience was in a Boeing 737 in the year 2014.
In her early 20s, she worked long hours at a restaurant to save up money to take vacations. There was a time she recalled when she was 7 years of age, she was opportune to have a taste of flight during a 15 minutes flight from a local airport. During the course of this flight, she noted the pilot was a woman, this really caught her attention and since then she had had the desire to become one some day. At 24, she made up her mind to pursue that desire of hers, of being a pilot.
In 2015, she began to share her experiences on Instagram and after a while proceeded to her own website and YouTube channel. Through these platforms, she was able to share what her adventure-filled life was like and also answer some questions. In the year 2018, she had the course to give a TEDx talk in Italy, which is titled “My point of view from 38,000 feet“.
From our findings, she has more than 39k followers, definitely her life must have been so inspiring to women everywhere.
2. Tamina Moradi @pilotmoradi
She flies CRJ900s basically in Europe. Tamina often share the reality of the path to cockpit with her 9,000+ followers on Instagram. Even though she is now doing pretty fine, she said that nobody will like to reveal to the people in details what they’ve gone through to arrive at their position. What are always revealed are the highlights of what they’ve been through, and how far they have gone.
She further described that, in order to achieve your goal, there is need to have a clearly defined stretch goal, coupled with focus and effort. More so, it requires hours which may turn into weeks and eventually into years of hard work, and practice, to achieve such lifetime goal.
She further explained that what interest her the most is flying the plane, not necessarily the overlays or the destination. Though there are challenges that ranges from weather conditions to the aircraft weight (that can affect your handling techniques) and lots more. The most important thing is that, when going into industry like this, you have to put your heart in it and be hardworking.
3. Christin Sanders @your_pilot_girl
In October 2018, Christin decided to take up flying and obtain her pilot’s license. She has been married for 16 years with two beautiful daughters.
According to her, she has always desired to learn how to fly and not just any kind of flying, but the ones that gives her the opportunity to visit spectacular places and get views that are only possible by airplane.
Presently, she is living such life and now sharing her experiences of flying her new Carbon Cub Ex-2 on YouTube and Instagram. You can start following Christin to get to know how being a private pilot can be rewarding for you and your family.
4. Eva Claire Marseille @flywitheva
Eva Claire Marseille flies a Dutch Boeing 747 cargo, prior to this, she usually flew 737s until she became the first officer with a cargo carrier. At the present, she based in Hong Kong.
Eva described that we are in a society where some certain professions are seen as ‘male’ or ‘female’. And because a lot of girls are not exposed to women pilots, they go ahead in choosing role models in other professions. She explained that most female pilot in her generation are at no point a pioneer in this profession, and as a result, going for airline pilot as a career path for upcoming ladies does not occur to most of them. More so, it is in the nature of everyone to be inspired by someone of the same gender.
Her main reason for sharing her stories on her own website and social media is to add to the visibility of the female pilots, hoping that it will inspire more girls in choosing the profession.
5. Marissa Guilford @barefoot_flying_mom
Have you even thought of the possibility of being a dedicated mother and at the same time an airline pilot? We’ve gotten a personal inspiration for you. Marissa Guilford is a single mum of 3 and a successful Envoy American Airlines Group pilot.
She got her inspiration from her father (her flight instructor), who later died in plane crash. However, she grew up being taken to the skies in many flight school’s aircraft. When she became a single mother, she quit flying for years and had to work as an airline dispatcher with the thought that it was the safe decision to take being a single mother.
Years down the line, she choose to return back into the cockpit. Today, if she is asked about how she have been able to maintain a balance between her career and being a mother, her response is always that she had more opportunity of seeing her kids compared to having 5 to 9 jobs. Being a pilot, she still had the time to visit her kids school, attend their sports, go for field trips and lots more. She wrapped it up by saying “flying had actually gave her kids their mom back”.
Without much ado, you should follow Marissa to get the real life example of how to merge being a parent with your career.
