When did you know you wanted to be a pilot?

Liz:
I’ve wanted to fly since I was 12 years old.  I have a page from a UK newspaper “Day 1 at Mach 2: The 1st commercial flight of the Concord.”  That historic flight was on my 13th birthday which I took as a sign that it would all work out and I would become a pilot!

I grew up on a small Caribbean island (St Lucia) where my Dad had come to work.  No chance to build hours, I applied to the Royal Air Force (RAF).  I am a UK citizen & born in England, but they didn’t accept women for flight officer positions in the 1970s.  Luckily I won a full ride scholarship to a UN/ICAO run regional school in Trinidad.  I left there at 19 with a Commercial Pilot License, Multi-Engine and Instrument Ratings and was hired by the local airline a few months later. In the following four years I flew the Embraer Bandeirante, Twin Otter and the Dash 8 (100 series) when it was a new airplane.  Six, eight even ten landings in a day between various Caribbean islands!   

In flying school, I met and fell in love with a Surinamese instructor, we got married in 1984 and moved to the Netherlands in 1987. Unfortunately, I had to do all my theory exams over again in Dutch!  This was not what the Dutch FAA had told me before I moved!!  Anyway, I learnt Dutch, took the exams (essay type questions not multiple choice as they are now), dealt with my mom’s sudden death at 56 and then, almost two years later, had an amazing week when I was offered two jobs!

I started with Transavia, which was later bought over by KLM.  Less than three years later, I got my 4th stripe and at 29 was one of the youngest female jet captains in Europe.  Transavia has always flown 737s; I flew the -300 round dial, then EFIS, then the NG -700 & -800. We fly to more than 100 European & North African destinations including some very short and tricky CAT C runways (Madeira, Samos).  

In October 1989, I was co-pilot in the first all-female crew in the Netherlands. Transavia hired many more women, so I often flew with a female colleague and have heard all the usual comments, however only once did a man who was scared of flying demand to get off! 

Transavia was traditionally busy in the summer but not so much in the winter so they often hired us out on wet leases.  I have been temporarily based in Bali (flying to Australia), South Africa, Egypt, Munich, and Trinidad (flying to Toronto).  I have great memories of all these places…

I became a check pilot (TRI) doing initial and recurrent simulator and line experience flights with new co-pilots, I also taught “fear of flying” courses and CRM for both pilots and cabin crew. At the same time I was on the ISA+21 Board of Directors for 12 years, mostly as Events Director but also two years as  Chairwoman.  I was ISA+21’s IFALPA rep for ten years and also was a union rep for eight years in Transavia’s VNV Dutch ALPA group.

In 2020, COVID-19 hit and I had to retire early.  On my last flight I had our most junior woman pilot as my first officer and four pursers who were good friends from over the years as cabin crew.  Now I’m getting used to retired life in my childhood home in St Lucia.  Looking forward to seeing friends in Dublin at the ISA+21 Conference!