A 22-year-old airline pilot has opened up about the challenges she faces trying to make her way in a world dominated by people who are older and predominantly men. Here she is explaining some of the problems that she experiences as a young women in that world:
Sabrina Johnson was just 14-years-old when she was bought a flying experience by her dad, which kickstarted her love of flying aircraft.
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Now, she flies helicopters and aeroplanes, and has become a commercial pilot, flying routes around the USA, Canada, and Mexico, as well as sharing her exploits with thousands of followers on TikTok.
Whilst she clearly loves her job, it isn’t without struggles.
The world of airline piloting is heavily dominated by male pilots, and she’s also been told that she’s ‘too young’ to be flying a plane, or even accused of not really doing it.
Johnson explained: "They say 'I wouldn't trust you to fly a plane' all the time.
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"And I'm like, 'Hey, I wouldn't trust you to be on my plane'."
In the video above, she explains how she receives loads of DMs with people – ‘predominantly men’ – sending her ‘paragraphs about how to do things, ‘mansplaining’ her own job to her.
“This is not harmless,” she told her followers.
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“It definitely comes off in a very ‘put you down’ way, which is why it’s so hard for me to post anything that is educational.
“At this point I am just angry at everything and I can’t tell the line of someone trying to have a genuine conversation with me or someone mansplaining or down-talking to me on relatively simple knowledge that I should already know as a flight instructor, or whatever career I’m in.”
Johnson is primarily in charge of an Embrauer ERJ-175, which carries 76 passengers.
She’s currently working for an unnamed airline – though you can work it out if you choose – and her longest flight is between Chicago and Monterrey in Mexico, clocking in at around three-and-a-half hours.
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On the positive elements of her job, she explained: "My favorite part of flying in general is the sights.
"On the cloudiest day I pop above the clouds and see the sun and the sunset.
You just can't beat the sights.
"It's like vacation 24/7, it's awesome.”
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That’s because – as a pilot – she gets free travel pretty much whenever, paying only the tax on tickets.
However, women are massively underrepresented in the field, with just around 9.5 percent of pilots being female.
Still, Johnson says she’s found a ‘strong community’ of female pilots who stick together.
She’s also found a good community online, where she’s shared her training journey, as well as travel vlogs and stories from her life as a pilot.
That means that she may just be helping more young women to realise that they can have a career in piloting.
Her dream started after being bought that first flight by her dad.
"I always tell him that was the biggest mistake because that sent me down the rabbit hole of where I am now,” she said.
"I couldn't stop."
After that, she realised that she ‘could make [her] job flying an aeroplane', adding: “I just think that that's the coolest thing.”
Tom Wood