This is the second part of an interview of Lynda Meeks, whose aviation career is really less ordinary. Lynda has experience with both airplanes and helicopters, and in both military and civilian operations! She’s also the founder of a nonprofit organization to encourage girls to embrace an aviation career…
You’re one of the two pilots I know who flies both fixed-wings and helicopters. How does it feel like to be part of both flying tribes?
Well, I’m not currently flying helicopters anymore (although if my furlough continues much longer I would like to get my helicopter instructor rating). Where these ratings helped me the most was establishing credibility with my co-pilots. The airline guys were impressed with the helicopters, and the National Guard guys were impressed I could fly jets. I am very grateful for being able to fly rotary wing, and especially the Huey, which has such a long great history.
Beside your flying activities, you manage to run Veryimportantpilots, penelopepilotproject and girls with wings. Can you say more about your goals, and results, and how you achieve to do all of that in parallel?
I had originally decided to merely produce aviation themed clothing items for girls because ten years ago there was NOTHING with an airplane on it for a girl. As I started making these items, I always got stories from the people who bought them – and started to realize there was a bigger world to be explored. WHY weren’t people making these things for girls like they were for boys? Why weren’t we encouraging girls into aviation? Very Important Pilots, LLC, was the marketing arm of the operation, but it soon became clear that GWW needed to become a nonprofit corporation to handle the demand for more. Girls With Wings started as a marketing/branding theme, but became a whole educational outreach program. And Penelope Pilot, our mascot, and her website, is the first in a line of Girls With Wings characters, but she is specifically encouraging girls to attend aviation events.
The response has been incredible. We’ve got to figure out how to raise the figure of 6% of pilots are women to something a bit more equitable. Although I am often criticized for focusing on just girls (“Why isn’t there a BOYS with wings?”), there is plenty of research that shows that girls need their own targeted program to counteract years of gender stereotyping. What the aviation industry is doing now to attract more women into aviation clearly isn’t working. If it’s going to take a niche organization like Girls With Wings to do it, then that’s what we need to throw our efforts behind.
The next question is a bit of a stereotype, but what was the hardest thing in going through all of that as a woman?
Unfortunately, in such a male dominated industry there is no getting away from the stereotype. If you can start with a premise that women and men are different without reading into it that one or the other is better, you can then try to work on how to appeal to both. Girls like the flowery, pink stuff such that GWW offers, and that shouldn’t be seen as “talking down to” or trivializing aviation. At one point in my aviation career I seriously had to decide that just because I was in a male dominated industry didn’t mean I couldn’t still be a woman. Women are looking for techniques and programs that appeal to them.
You’re now training to become a flight instructor. What are your favorite parts in this new challenge?
Becoming involved in general aviation has opened up a whole new world to me. I went from flying in the military to the airlines, so I have very little knowledge of things like flight following and $100 hamburgers. I have met so many wonderful people through Facebook and twitter and the like who I have since been able to meet at Oshkosh and Sun n Fun, etc. If I had not been furloughed, I would have probably not been introduced to the rest of this aviation community.
I really look forward to being an instructor so I can sit on the other side of the table and put into practice the theories I have developed over my 17 year flying career. For example, I am convinced that women feel the need to understand everything completely before they feel comfortable doing it. If they don’t, they will lack confidence and feel insecure about coming back. If a woman’s flight instructor doesn’t realize that mentally she’s backsliding, no one will understand why she up and quit her flight training.
The number of general aviation pilots is seriously declining. What is your message to those who hesitate to start, or think of stopping?
I would advise anyone thinking of starting to fly to do it as a “pay as you go” process. I worry about folks that take out huge loans to fund training. If you’re really passionate about aviation you’ll figure out a way to make it happen. And perhaps not stress so much about how to pay back that loan, because it does take a lot of time to receive the salary we deserve for all of our professional skills and training. I would find a way to become involved with the community surrounding aviation. There are so many flying activities to partake in; Angel Flight, CAP, Young Eagles, etc., and so many aviation organizations like AOPA and EAA to join. Form a circle of friends that also like to fly so you can share expenses and knowledge!
What is your next aviation project?
We have just released our first book in the Girls With Wings series called “Penelope Pilot and her First Day as Captain.” Our practical method for implementing the mission of Girls With Wings, inspiring girls with aviation, is to promote women in aviation as much as the men are, in a way that entertains and educates girls about their opportunities. The GWW series will discuss the different types of flying jobs and other fields that girls can pursue.
Liked it? Click here to read the first part of the interview.
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