We Are All Pilots

In aviation, the wings we wear don’t carry a gender. They carry responsibility, training, and the weight of every hour we’ve logged, every check ride we’ve passed, every decision we’ve made in the air.

I’ve never thought of myself as a female pilot. I’ve always just been a pilot and like every other professional in this industry who has earned their place through hard work, skill, and commitment.

And that’s the truth that often gets lost in the noise.

In General Aviation, where many of us begin and build our careers, I’ve experienced nothing but respect and opportunity. I was hired because I was qualified. I was trusted because I had the experience. I was promoted because I was ready. At no point was my gender ever treated as a barrier, or worse, a reason I got through the door.

So when I see others publicly suggesting that women in GA are being denied jobs simply because they’re female, I have to speak up, because it’s not my experience, and it’s not the experience of many women I know!

We are all Professionals

Yes, representation matters. Yes, we must keep building pathways and showing young people what’s possible. But representation without truth becomes a false narrative and one that risks dividing the very community that helped us rise.

I’ve had incredible male mentors who never questioned my place in the cockpit. I’ve trained alongside women who earned every endorsement and rating through sheer determination. And I’ve watched flight schools, like mine, shift toward 50/50 gender representation because we focused on potential, not quotas.

At the end of the day, we are not female pilots or female engineers or female air traffic controllers. We are professionals. We are aviators. We are a community.

And the more we focus on what unites us and not what divides us, the more we will continue to lift each other and our aviation community.