Women make better pilots than men, or so contends Doug Smith. He ought to know. Smith, 68, is cofounder of the Vermont Flight Academy and program director of Vermont Technical College's professional pilot technology program in Williston. He's been flying since he was 7 years old and spent decades as an international airline pilot, flight instructor and examiner. In his view, female students tend to be more cautious, methodical, detail oriented and able to multitask than males. Be that as it may, aviation remains a male-dominated profession and hobby; fewer than 6 percent of airline and commercial pilots nationally are female, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Women in aviation may be few, but they figure prominently at all levels of the flying community in Vermont. In Vermont Technical College's professional pilot technology program, the only fulltime professor, Robin Guillian, is a woman, as is one in four of her flight instructors. Of the incoming freshman class, five of the 22 are female, which is well above the national average. Wanting to hear their stories, we profiled eight local female pilots involved in a range of different forms of aviation: academic, commercial, military and general. While none of the women echoed Smith's bold claim, many agreed with his assessment. Some said they had to work twice as hard as their male counterparts in flight school just to be treated as equals. Others suggested that, lacking testosterone and a male ego, women are typically more levelheaded in the air, especially when the unexpected occurs. Among the gender stereotypes women tend to encounter in aviation is the notion that professional flying isn't a good fit for potential moms. Yet almost all the pilots interviewed for this story are mothers or plan to be. At least one flew professionally through two pregnancies, at times nursing her infant in the cockpit of a commercial airliner before takeoff. And, unlike in many other professions, male and female commercial pilots enjoy equal pay. Collectively, these eight women have flown to every continent but Antarctica — and one, Kathy Daily, has landed at the North Pole twice. They've piloted an array of aircraft, from a glider to an F-16, a World War I-era Sopwith Camel to a Boeing 767. Would Smith's assessment of the female advantage in the cockpit withstand scientific scrutiny? Hard to say. Regardless, Vermont women are soaring in aviation, so we met some…
Women make better pilots than men, or so contends Doug Smith. He ought to know. Smith, 68, is cofounder of the Vermont Flight Academy and program director of Vermont Technical College's professional pilot technology program in Williston. He's been flying since he was 7 years old and spent decades as an international airline pilot, flight instructor and examiner. In his view, female students tend to be more cautious, methodical, detail oriented and able to multitask than males. Be that as it may, aviation remains a male-dominated profession and hobby; fewer than 6 percent of airline and commercial pilots nationally are female, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Women in aviation may be few, but they figure prominently at all levels of the flying community in Vermont. In Vermont Technical College's professional pilot technology program, the only fulltime professor, Robin Guillian, is a woman, as is one in four of her flight instructors. Of the incoming freshman class, five of the 22 are female, which is well above the national average. Wanting to hear their stories, we profiled eight local female pilots involved in a range of different forms of aviation: academic, commercial, military and general. While none of the women echoed Smith's bold claim, many agreed with his assessment. Some said they had to work twice as hard as their male counterparts in flight school just to be treated as equals. Others suggested that, lacking testosterone and a male ego, women are typically more levelheaded in the air, especially when the unexpected occurs. Among the gender stereotypes women tend to encounter in aviation is the notion that professional flying isn't a good fit for potential moms. Yet almost all the pilots interviewed for this story are mothers or plan to be. At least one flew professionally through two pregnancies, at times nursing her infant in the cockpit of a commercial airliner before takeoff. And, unlike in many other professions, male and female commercial pilots enjoy equal pay. Collectively, these eight women have flown to every continent but Antarctica — and one, Kathy Daily, has landed at the North Pole twice. They've piloted an array of aircraft, from a glider to an F-16, a World War I-era Sopwith Camel to a Boeing 767. Would Smith's assessment of the female advantage in the cockpit withstand scientific scrutiny? Hard to say. Regardless, Vermont women are soaring in aviation, so we met some…