Women in History Month in Aviation

Celebrating Women in History Month for Aviation

Meet Jessica Cox
World's First & Only Armless Pilot

Jessica Cox
1: Why did you choose the aviation industry?
Flying was my greatest fear. I had been on commercial airliner flights and always got a tension headache. Then a speaking client offered to fly me to their event in a small plane. It was just a short flight in a 172 across the boarder into Mexico. On the way there, it was the same thing. I prayed. On the way back, however, I was sitting in the right seat and the pilot offered to let me use the controls. When he let go of his side and I realized I was flying the airplane with just my feet, I caught the bug. I was still afraid of flying, but I was going to do whatever it takes to become a pilot. The rest is history.

2: What is your foundation’s overarching goals and what types of roles have you held in your past? Rightfooted Foundation International (RFI) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Tucson, AZ. I created it primarily to serve a need that I didn’t have when I was growing up. I never met another person missing both arms until I was in high school. I didn’t grow up with a role model and so there wasn’t anyone I could ask about experiences, tips, or anything. Now RFI exists to provide mentorship, education, advocacy, and inspiration for people with disabilities, especially children with limb differences. As for roles in the past, I have traveled to 26 countries as a keynote speaker over the last 17 years, I am the Goodwill Ambassador for the NGO Humanity & Inclusion, and I currently service on the Disability Advisory Board for one of the big three airlines.

3: How have you seen aircraft maintenance change over your career? I never knew how much trouble it was to maintain an airplane. For most of my flying career, I rented Ercoupes. Then in 2019, a gentleman from California donated a 1946 415-C Ercoupe to RFI. Suddenly I was worried about annuals and oil changes and aging issues with a 75 year old airplane. It has been a steep learning curve.

4: How do you think the digitization of maintenance logs will help as you fly all over the US? Since the Ercoupe was donated, we have made a number of trips across the country to fulfill the mission and vision of RFI. For example, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and I flew over Washington, DC to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the American’s with Disabilities Act, which he introduced and pushed through the US Senate. With a low and slow (and vintage) airplane like the Ercoupe, there was also some maintenance issue that came up on those trips. It has seemed never ending: the oil was changed in DC, the baffling broke going into Oklahoma City and had to be replaced, the rudder hinges needed to be replaced in Wisconsin, and the brake fluid ran dry in El Paso. Having the ability to upload the records to Blue Tail has been a life saver. It has also greatly helped to be able to search scans of the old records to see what was done before we received it.

5: As a woman in aviation, do you feel you are blazing the trail for other women? My story reaches a lot of people. I don’t feel like I’m blazing a trail. Instead, I feel like my story shows more women that aviation is open to them. There are many great women in aviation who challenge the status quo. But the professional pilot career, especially for women, needs a lot of help to spread the message to get more people interested in the field.

6: Do you feel opportunities in the aviation industry are growing for women?
Yes! I meet women (and men, too) who said they started flight training because they heard my story. Many of them are going on to careers far beyond what I have done. There is a lot of demand for almost every job in aviation.

To learn more about Jessica’s foundation, visit her website: Jessica’s Website



Meet Mercedes Hess
Aircraft Maintenance Technician at Horizon Air

Women in Aviation

1: Why did you become an aviation technician?
Aviation is definitely in my blood. My grandfather was a pilot, my dad got his private pilots license at 16 and just recently became current again. My brother is an aerospace engineer and also got his private pilots. I have two uncles that are aircraft mechanics. I grew up listening to all these stories and never really thought about getting into it until I decided to go back to school 5 years ago. It was a leap of faith since it was my first mechanical job, but I’m so glad I did because I love my job.

2: Who do you work for and what type of aircraft do you work on?
I work for a regional airline whose fleet consists of De Havilland turboprops and Embraer E-Jets.

3: How have you seen aircraft maintenance change over your career?
I’m relatively new to this field, I’m only starting on my third year into it. Most of the changes I’ve seen have been due to Covid. Reduced passenger loads, cancelled routes, optional leave requests, early retirement packages and sometimes layoffs all contributed to a very unsure time in the industry.

4: How do you think the digitization of maintenance instructions and aircraft logs have/will impact your job?
It impacts my job every day. Being a regional airline, we rely on a streamlined and organized program to handle our scope of aircraft maintenance paperwork. I imagine that applying the digitization of aircraft logs and records for GA, commuter, and corporate aircraft can be nothing but considerably helpful.

5: As a woman in aviation, do you feel you are blazing the trail for other women?
I’ve never been the one to feel as important as the type to “blaze a trail” or anything like that. I just show up and do my job. Aircraft maintenance is definitely a man’s world, and I hope since I am so young I will be able to see a day when there are more women involved. The FAA is cited as saying only 2.6% of certificated Airframe & Powerplant license holders are female. That’s just license holders, many may be retired or not even employed using their license. I hope that any future female mechanics that get hired on with my company can find comfort that there are other females around- there’s comfort in numbers, and there are 4 of us now. That’s almost unheard of in this industry.

6: Do you feel opportunities in the aviation industry are growing for women?
For sure. I can only speak for regional/major airline opportunities as that’s where my experience is, but Covid increased the early retirement packages. I’ve never seen so many airlines hiring all at once, for so many openings. Individuals in my family in the industry have never seen it like this. The high time mechanics that have been wrenching for 30+ years have never seen it like this. Companies that normally required several years of experience are now hiring techs right out of school. That’s also unheard of. Now’s the time to get in there!

Meet Annette O'Sullivan
Flight Operations, Lewis Energy, Lewis Air Legends and part of the Bluetail family

1: Why did you choose the aviation industry?
Aviation chose me!  What was supposed to be a part-time job while in college, sparked a passion that I didn’t know existed.

2: Who do you work for and what types of roles have you held?
This is a tough one given my dual employment status.  Let’s figure out how to word this one.
I started as a CSR at Million Air Houston, over the years I have worn a few hats; Corporate Flight Attendant, Part 135 Charter Coordinator, FBO Customer Service Manager and part of the Bluetail family.

3: How have you seen aircraft maintenance change over your career?
Maintenance was unchartered territory for me for the majority of my aviation career.  About 7 years ago I became more involved and started to understand what exactly is required to properly maintain aircraft.  Like everything else, aircraft maintenance is going digital when it comes to tracking, maintaining records as well as manuals.

4: How do you think the digitization of maintenance instructions and aircraft logs have/will impact your job?
In most flight departments, paper flight logs are a thing of the past.  Record keeping for aircraft and pilot flight hours is now maintained on a phone or tablet through a scheduling software. Maintenance Records are not there yet but it is only a matter of time.

5: As a woman in aviation, do you feel you are blazing the trail for other women?
After about 10 years of working in the aviation industry, my dad made a comment that has stuck with me; he said ” I never thought you would be successful with this airplane stuff but you proved me wrong”  I blazed my own trail in this industry to get to where I am today and would be thrilled to guide others.

6: Do you feel opportunities in the aviation industry are growing for women?
 I have never felt that opportunities have ever been limited because I am a woman.  The aviation industry in general is growing and opportunity is following. 

NBAA New Guidelines on Electronic Recordkeeping

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