Margaret Airlane Pilot

t Margaret Airline Pilot
Transport

My dream job was to fly! To become a pilot. I was about five years old when I started writing to British Airways!
Margaret made her dream come true. She isnow a Senior First Officer (Airline Pilot) with British Airways.
Was it always Margarets dream to become an airline pilot?
 Absolutely! My dream was always to fly! To become a pilot. I was about fiveyears old when I started writing to British Airways.  I wrote to them every year. They were very good to me. At some point they took me round the hangers and I had the opportunity to look at theaircraft.
Margaret thinks the reason why she wanted to become a pilot at such a young age was because she spent a lot of time in airports and aeroplanes when she was a child. My mother is Japanese and Iused to travel regularly to Japan. I travelled there every summer and sometimes I would do an around the world trip through London, Los Angeles and the Pacific onto Japan. I spent a lot of time inthe aeroplane cockpit on these trips. At that time people were allowed to go and visit the cockpit.
Was Margaret ever discouraged from becoming a pilot?
I woult say people put barriers in the way ofmy becoming a pilot, but I think I was advised to look at other careers more traditional ones, such as medicine or law. I also remember walking into the Royal Air Force Careers Office and they told mepoint blank that women were not allowed to become pilots. That was a government restriction at the time.
Has Margaret been influenced by any role models in her career?
When I was with my firstairline, there was one particular lady who could not find a job as a pilot in the UK at the start of her career as at that time no-one would hire female pilots. She went round the world until she found anairline that would employ her and eventually became the chief pilot of that airline. Those kind of people were role models for me as they fought against all the odds to do exactly what they wanted....