CAFB duo cultivating women pilots

COLUMBUS AFB, Miss. - Eighteen Air Education and Training Command instructor pilots gathered in Oklahoma City, Okla., from Nov. 16-18, for the second annual AETC Women’s Fly-In training event. The training was organized by Lean In and Supergirls chapters from AETC bases with the goal of lessening the mentorship gap for women in the Air Force. Capts. Katy Boshears and Afton Brown of Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., put the new 14th Flying Training Wing mission of Cultivating Airmen and Connecting into practice for the annual professional development event. “(W)omen bring a different perspective to flying,” she said, “and with so few of us in each of our respective organizations, it's important to create an opportunity for us to come together to share struggles, successes, and resources.” A 2018 RAND study showed that past the initial 13-year pilot training commitment, only 39 percent of rated women in the AF choose to continue compared to 63 percent of males. Six percent of the 730 active duty AF pilots are women. The CAFB duo helped build on last year’s fly-in when 10 female IPs from Vance AFB came to Columbus to present a talk on intra-gender communication, hold discussions, and provide mentoring opportunities. In 2019, Brown and Boshears hope to expand the event to include men and women from all AETC bases with the ultimate goal, they say, to connect women, enable mentorship, and to inspire the next generation to pursue and achieve their professional and personal goals. (Source: CAFB 11/27/18)