To celebrate International Women’s Day, we caught up with our female students about their journey to becoming a pilot in a male-dominated industry.
Hanna Kerr grew up in the aviation world, with her mum working as a cabin crew.
Here she shares her story about why she chose to become a pilot, her experience training with Bristol Groundschool and what advice she would give to other women looking to become pilots.
Why did you choose a career as a pilot?
Initially, I chose a career as a pilot as I remembered the feeling of when I was on the flight deck when I was younger. I thought it would be an amazing job and I wanted to travel the world. The first time I applied to be a pilot I was unsuccessful. That was disappointing but I always wanted to be cabin crew so I thought that was my path instead of being a pilot.
When I started talking to pilots while I was cabin crew, all of them said I would be able to do it. The thing I was missing was the belief in myself. I applied a few more times to be a pilot and worked hard at the interview process but unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. There were failures I needed to learn from and that’s what I did.
Then I decided to go it alone and do my flying the modular route. When I started doing it, I slowly started to see that it was something I was capable of. It then became less about travelling the world and I started to absolutely love flying planes and the feeling that gave me. I worked so hard and I noticed that the hard work was pushing me on to be better, and stronger and good things were coming to me.
It is a wonderful career, I’ve only been flying six years and I’ve had a fantastic time so far. I’ve had some amazing flying experiences to challenging places and doing really exciting things. The opportunities that exist within flying are incredible. I’ve met really interesting and wonderful people and travelled to many different places.
What’s your favourite part about being a pilot?
Sometimes I look out the window and feel so lucky to be paid for doing something I love. When I started flying I had no idea that a job could make me as happy as it does and if I’d known that I would have started earlier! I know so many people who are unhappy in their jobs and that is a massive part of anyone’s life. Being happy going to work is a gift and one that I don’t take for granted.
You get to meet so many amazing people and do really amazing things and the work is challenging but incredibly rewarding. I love working as part of a team and getting people safely to their destination. I particularly love flying to Glasgow as it’s where I’m from and the fact that I can land an aircraft into there is incredible to me. The people are always so friendly and I have good fun flying them there and chatting with them after the flight.
What did you enjoy about your pilot training?
I’ll be honest, I found flying training really hard because it is hard. I did it myself when I was working as a full-time cabin crew and I didn’t have a group of peers for support. It was different for me to use my brain in a more scientific way when I’d done customer service my whole life until that point.
When I saw myself being successful at exams and flying, that boosted me. It started to make me believe that so much was possible. The first time I went flying by myself I just couldn’t believe that I was doing that. I didn’t know anyone who had done that and most of the time I was the only girl on my courses. I loved flying around the UK on my hour building, seeing places I wouldn’t normally go to. I went to the very north of Scotland and the very tip of England and saw some amazing scenery.
The best part was realising that I was capable of doing something like this. The little girl who went in the flight deck and didn’t believe she could do it would be so proud. I am so proud of myself and I want to be an advocate for those who don’t believe in themselves as proof that you can do hard things.
How did you find studying for your ATPL theory exams with BGS?
BGS really was the best school I could have chosen to do my ATPL exams. The support was fantastic. The ground school instructors were so knowledgeable and patient with me when I asked many questions and didn’t understand something. I would really recommend BGS to people. Doing it by yourself is hard but when I came for the study weeks and met other people it made me feel so much better. It was really nice to be around other people doing the same things and feeling the way you were. It was a really nice environment to study and I always looked forward to those weeks.
I really enjoyed my MCC course, especially flying the 747 simulator and that really was fantastic training. I’m glad I chose that course as it set me up well for my future career.
What are your plans for the future?
I have so many plans! I’m flying the Airbus around Europe and I am really enjoying that. It’s very different to flying a turboprop around the Highlands and Islands of Scotland! I plan to carry on on the Airbus doing a short hall while exploring other exciting opportunities around flying. I’m really happy to be settled in my career and look forward to flying for a long time!
I am also a 3rd-year psychology student and a yoga teacher. My plan is to support mental health and make people’s lives better. I focus on stress and how to manage your reaction to stress with yoga. I absolutely love teaching that and can really see a difference in people’s lives when they add yoga to manage stress.
What advice would you give other women looking to become a pilot?
I think we lack belief in ourselves but truly you can be a pilot if you want to. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room if you’re working the hardest and you are kind. I believe you can do anything you want to. On the days when you lose that belief, make sure you’ve got people around you who will tell you you can do it and not to give up. It’s really hard but it’s so worth it. I go to work happy every day and not everyone is lucky enough to be able to say that.
