Mentor me

They had come up against the same hurdles as those we referred to in our May article on advocating for women in aviation – lack of exposure to the possibility of being a pilot being the recurring them.

Those guiding our female graduates at the end of high school are not, according to our aviation students, promoting the idea or opportunity of becoming a pilot as a career option. While we accept that career counsellors cannot be across all careers paths I would like to think that this career would by now have become a standard option for both genders. I was therefore surprised when our young degree pilots, still pretty fresh from high school, had the same experiences as those of 20 years ago.

As an industry do we continue to rely on the school system to mentor and guide our graduating students into flying roles?

Or do we put in place the support mechanisms to set our fledging aviators on the right flightpath?

There are already wellestablished groups such as Women In Aviation who offer a valuable mentoring platform for pilots, aircraft engineers and air traffic controllers. The Australia Chapter can be found on Facebook – facebook.com/waiaustralia.org/ – as can FAST (Female Aviators Sticking Together) – facebook.com/ groups/524155637750766/.

I was also thrilled to hear that the student flight leaders, of both genders, from Griffith University were regularly visiting schools to promote and inspire.

Is it enough? No, and the numbers support that. We need more buy-in from those within the industry.

Connecting our experienced commercial and Defence Force pilots with aspiring pilots has to be the best way to illustrate a ‘day in the life of a pilot’ and to connect them with a network they will have for life. At Pinstripe we are doing just that, talking the talk and walking the walk, as we are about to launch a podcast series of mentor-based interviews with pilots from across GA, airlines and the Defence Force.

It will be real, raw and authentic. It will start with women in aviation but not limited to them by any means.

We have invited our aspiring female pilots to each send us three of their burning questions and we will attempt to answer as many as we can throughout the podcast series. So far the questions have ranged from, “Can I talk about wanting to be chief pilot?” – I know, talk about great goal setting – to “should I pursue a cadetship or get my CPL and go bush?” and “how to manage a flying career and family?” and “wearing makeup and heels at the job interview?”.

It’s going to be an interesting and entertaining series for sure. If you would like to participate, get in touch.

On that note, I recently discovered another fascinating mentor podcast series, ‘Go All In’ (goallin.com.au). I was glued to an interview with pilot, author and Australian Aviation contributor Owen Zupp and was pleased to hear the latest interview with Lea Vesic of the Australian Chapter of Women In Aviation.

A mentor can come in many forms, having more than one with differing areas of expertise is something I advocate. Their role at its core is to use their experience and success to support and guide others, be that with regard to challenges, success, goal setting, inspiration or training. Their perspective is invaluable, their philanthropy immeasurable. Go get yourself one or two.

‘As an industry do we put in place the support mechanisms to set our fledging aviators on the right flightpath?