The Sky is Certainly Not the Limit for This Female Pilot
In honour of Women’s Month, Lufthansa German Airlines is celebrating the accomplishments of the brilliant women within their company. Being a woman pilot in a male dominated field is no easy task, and these ladies are literally rising above. Lufthansa commercial pilot, Barbara Kuhlenkamp fills us in on what it’s like to be a woman in this high-flying career.
Barbara, who flies the Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 from Frankfurt to Johannesburg, had always dreamed of being a pilot and enrolled as a trainee in 1989 at the Lufthansa Flight School in Bremen after which she also trained in Phoenix, Arizona. After just two years she became first officer of the Airbus A320, which she flew throughout Europe for more than 12 years on both short and medium haul routes, before moving on to her most recent post as captain of the big and beautiful ‘Jumbo’.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing and getting to where she is today has taken hard work and dedication. “During my career as a female pilot, I have to say that I have only had good feedback from passengers and equally good experiences with male colleagues. Certainly, as a woman in this job, you are always focused on more than your male colleagues and you receive more attention, but I knew this would be the case from the very beginning and accepted the situation in order to move forward.”
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