Aviation Organizations

I am currently an active member of Women in Aviation International and in a not too far future, hopefully, I would really like to join the International Society of Women Airline Pilots. Unfortunately, in the present I cannot become a member, since there are some requirements to meet in order to qualify for their membership. In fact, the ISWAP membership is exclusively given to female qualifying pilots who fly qualifying aircraft. “A Qualifying Pilot is a woman who serves as a Flight Crew Member and holds a seniority number at a FAR Part 121 or 129 Air Carrier or ICAO equivalent and possesses an Airline Transport Pilot Certificate or ICAO equivalent. This includes all pilots who are on medical leave, furloughed or retired” (International Society of Women Airline Pilots, n.d.). “A Qualifying Aircraft is any aircraft that weighs over 40,000 lbs. or 18,000 kg flown on the certificate of an FAR Part 121 or 129 Air Carrier” (International Society of Women Airline Pilots, n.d.). I honestly still need to decide wheatear to continue my career path here in the USA or move back in Europe. If I decide this last option, I would almost certainly, join the Associazione Nazionale Piloti Aviazione Commericale (ANPAC), if I go back in Italy or the Association Luxembourgeoise des Pilotes de Ligne (ALPL) if I go to fly for CargoLux, both of which are members themselves of the European Cockpit Association.

              ISWAP was founded in 1978 by Beverley Bass and Stephanie Wallach and at first it was seen as more of a social club (International Society of Women Airline Pilots, n.d.). The first official convention it was hold on May 1978 in Las Vegas (International Society of Women Airline Pilots, n.d.). In about 16 years it was incorporated as a non-profit corporation under the State of Nevada.  The mission stated on the International Society of Women Airlines pilots’ websites is as follows: “ISA+21 is a charitable, non-profit organization of career women airline pilots whose purpose is to: celebrate camaraderie; support informational exchange and social interaction among its members in a healthy environment; provide aviation scholarship opportunities for career-seeking women; and inspire future generations of women aviators via educational outreach” (International Society of Women Airline Pilots, n.d.). It is already known that the number of women pilots in the world is much less than the number of male ones. The FAA estimates that only 6% of the total licensed pilots within the US are women and an even smaller percentage are airline pilots. It is for this reason that the main goal of ISA+21 is to make the doors to this career path as wide open as possible for all women that are thinking to purse it and become ultimately airlines pilots. There are numerous ways in which ISWAP tries to help out as much as possible to make those doors as wide as possible. In fact, they are the number one donors when it comes to finance scholarship for women pursuing a flight career. They also offer mentoring and support programs. Along that, they also strive to create greater acceptance of the female figure pilot throughout the world general public.  Regarding ANPAC and ALPL, they are both under the European Cockpit Association. In other words, if you become a member of one of the first two you will automatically become member also of this last one mentioned. The European Cockpit Association (ECA) represents the body of European pilots at the EU level and it was created in 1991. ECA Mission is the following: "The European Cockpit Association represents the collective interests of its Member Associations at European level, striving for the highest levels of aviation safety and fostering social rights and quality employment for pilots in Europe” (Our Members & Benefits, n.d.). The specific goals of ANPAC are to: “unite all the pilots of the airlines operating in Italy in a single representative body in order to promote the highest level of flight operations safety and to protect and strengthen the professional prerogatives” (Statuto, n.d.). They also strive to “protect the interests and moral, material and social rights, collective and individual rights of members, improving the conditions of professional, social security, insurance and promoting an increasingly high professional, ethical and moral level of members” (Statuto, n.d.).

I personally will like to engage in as many associations and professional organizations as possible. This because of the innumerous benefits that I gain from them. In my opinion they have the capability of enhancing both my personal and professional development as well as providing me with endless networking opportunities, and we all know that the aviation world is all about networking. Almost all the associations offer some form of newspapers to their members along with sharing important and relevant articles on their webpages. This allows all their members to remain up to date with current topics regarding the aviation field. Some of the associations also offer seminars and lectures to further broaden the knowledge of their members on relevant topics. Another huge benefit that being involved in an association brings is, how stated previously, the networking. Precisely getting to know other people and form both professional and personal relationships. Creating professional relations in a working environment like ours is crucial and if the association is international you will be connected to people all around the world. The amazing thing is that all the members have a big passion in common, which is towards aviation. The relationships that members form within associations do not have to be purely professional but they can go beyond that and become real lasting friendships.

Regarding employment opportunities specifically within those organizations mentioned, I am really not able to identify any since the board members of both of them are all volunteers. However, I can state that on ANPAC’s website they often publish job opportunities for Europeans airlines such as Ryanair, EasyJet and Alitalia.  

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References

International Society of Women Airline Pilots. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.iswap.org/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=658242

Our Members & Benefits. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.eurocockpit.be/our-members-benefits

Statuto. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.anpac.it/index.php?option=com_content

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