Female aviator opens up about her industry

Author Erin Siedemann opens her new memoir, Postcards from the Sky: Adventures of an Aviatrix with “I am an unlikely traveler.” She isn’t wrong. In fact, Siedemann is part of an elite group — female pilots.

As I was reading her book, I was shocked to find out that only 6 percent of pilots around the world today are female. It is definitely one of the most gender-segregated professions in America which comes with a fair amount of misogyny and discrimination. Siedemann’s firsthand, incredibly funny and endearing memoir tells the unlikely story of how she fell in love with flying and navigated being part of such a small minority.

I was immediately drawn into this book from the second page, when Seideman explains how she didn’t fall in love with being on an airplane from her very first flight. In fact, far from it — she spent her teenage years hating commercial flights and suffering from terrible airsickness. This is something I know all too well. I am an incredibly nervous flier, which seems a little ridiculous given that I chose to study abroad in one of the farthest possible countries from my home in England. This means I have to grit my teeth and board the
12-hour flight between London and L.A. at least four times a year, in spite of my nerves. I’ve always felt uncomfortable being so far above earth and have certainly dealt with airsickness from time to time as well.

However, I differ from Siedemann in one crucial aspect: I hate the feeling of complete powerlessness when I’m on an airplane, but as a pilot, Siedemann is able to be in control. I hoped that by seeing the inside life of a pilot I would begin to gain a greater understanding of aviation which would in turn assuage some of my own fears. I was not disappointed.

Siedemann recalls how her love of flying developed when, at 17, she was able to fly on a small airplane just outside her hometown of New Orleans. She did not fall in love with the sensation of being on an airplane or technicalities of flying; instead, she was in awe of the ability to see a new world and some of the incredible beauty of earth from the sky in a small span of time. This was definitely something I could relate to. My family is made up of great travelers — my grandpa moved to England from Australia and my grandma from Norway. My father lived in Poland and Israel before coming to London, and my aunt moved to France to marry and have children. I definitely can appreciate wanderlust — having traveled frequently with my family, I have been lucky enough to see some amazing sights from airplanes. I will never forget flying over the Grand Canyon, the islands of Hawaii, the fjords of Norway and, probably my all time favorite, the English countryside and London the first time I came home from college for the holidays. There is something about seeing the world from above that allows me to appreciate it in a completely different and spectacular way.

So by this time in the book it’s safe to say I was hooked — and this was only a few pages in — and I continued to enjoy every page afterward. Siedemann has an incredible talent for writing in an accessible way. Though this is her first book, she isn’t new to writing. She graduated cum laude from Loyola University New Orleans with a degree in English Writing, and during her time as a pilot has written for many blogs.  She tells hilarious stories about the ups and downs of learning to fly an aircraft, falling in love with her flight instructor and many other subjects.

However, intertwined with the comedy and the sweet stories, Siedemann discusses something that really makes this book resonate and gives it the weight that it needs to make it such a worthwhile read. She discusses the difficulties of being a female pilot in a male dominated sphere. The flight instructor she falls in love with is incredibly prejudiced against her decision to pursue such a typically male profession. The misogyny she competes against is shocking and seemingly endless. It is sad to think that in a society we all like to think of as being
open-minded, women are still being openly and brazenly criticized for their career choices.

All in all, Siedemann does an excellent job at dispelling any prejudice that exists for women in the aviation industry. She takes the reader through an incredible journey of flight, its perks, its difficulties and ultimately, why seeing the world from above is both a thrill and a pleasure.

Kirsten Greenwood is a sophomore majoring in English. Her column, “By the Book,”
ran every Friday.