Stapleford Ladies

One for the ladies

Stapleford Flying Centre is particularly female-friendly

AIRFIELD STAPLEFORD (EGSG)
WHERE 4.5NM N OF ROMFORD
RUNWAYS 04/22 GRASS (ASPHALT INSERT), 10/28 GRASS
FACILITIES PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL FLIGHT TRAINING, FUEL, HANGARAGE, MAINTENANCE, CLUBHOUSE, RESTAURANT, BAR, PILOT SHOP, SELECTAIR CHARTER OPERATION
TEL 01708 688380
WEB www.flysfc.com

ACCORDING to CAA figures, less than 1 in 100 PPLs are female.
Even with such inspirational role models as Amy Johnson, Diana Britten and Polly Vacher, there are proportionally still few women actively involved in aviation. One flying school helping to change this, however, is Essex-based Stapleford Flight Centre, which has a strong contingent of female staff, instructors, students and club members.

SFC, which offers PPL training through to the modular ATPL course, has a team of aviation-minded women at the helm. Laura Ward, who has worked there since 1984 and now manages the business, acknowledges it's unusual in this industry.

"There are more women here than men," she says. "The women run the company."
What about the men? "They do as their told! That's the way it should be!"
Although Laura is quick to tease, the truth is that Stapleford has successfully kept a low staff turnover since chairman John Chicken took over the business in the 1960s, due to an equal balance between the sexes and equality of opportunity.

Together with daughter and chief executive Pamela Chicken, John has nurtured a successful and loyal team committed to professional flight training, where employees can also develop and progress within the company.

The number of flying instructors now totals 40, of which five are women, including Annabel Winter who is Chief Flying Instructor on the commercial side. A former ballet dancer and actress, the petite CFI played a pilot in the 1964 James Bond film, Goldfinger, long before she learned to fly. After getting her PPL she became an instructor and has flown commercially with British Island Airways, Air Ecosse and Monarch. She's also a CAA examiner and has over 10,000 hours flying experience.

There's some impressive homegrown female talent emerging too, in the shape of 21-year-old Nicola Richardson who works in the maintenance department as technical records officer. Nicola, who has worked at SFC since she left school, has completed her ATPL groundschool exams and is working towards her commercial licence at SFC. She feels she's really landed on her feet, "It was my intention from the beginning to become a commercial pilot, and everyone here has been really supportive and encouraging throughout."

Nicola is surprised, however, that there are so few registered female PPLs, but admits her own experiences have been quite telling, "I was the only girl on my first groundschool course out of about 20 students; on the second one there were two.

"You do feel like you have to prove yourself but everyone is positive and willing to help," she confides.
SFC's Head of Training Colin Dobney is an avid supporter of female pilots. His wife Jacqui was an instructor at Stapleford before she took up a position with London Executive Aviation, a charter operation also based at Stapleford. As a former 737 captain, Colin admits female co-pilots can be better company in the cockpit. "Conversation can be much more stimulating, rather than chatting to a bloke about football!" he tells LOOP.

Colin acknowledges there is still a minority of people who have preconceptions about female pilots. He explains, "There are some old dinosaurs who look twice at a female pilot.
"I'm proud of the fact that we've seen a big influx of female pilots in a predominantly male-oriented business.
"Generally women are fairly easy to teach as they have a lighter touch. As the business has grown, we've had PPLs stay on to become instructors and then CPLs."

Nicky Guy is a perfect example. She learned to fly at SFC six years ago and switched career to become an instructor at Stapleford. "I originally learned to fly as a hobby then I thought I could do this for a living," she says.

Nicky points out that flying requires much multi-tasking - something women take in their stride, and well, men don't. "Flying isn't really meant to be a male occupation!" she jokes.

SFC has watched the demand for professional pilots soar in the past few years and as it offers competitively priced training close to London, has benefited from this.

In the office, Lisa Green, commercial course coordinator, is responsible for advising students on all aspects of commercial training. She acts as a welfare officer for students. Some have come from as far as Spain, Italy and Sweden.

Up to 100 commercial pilots leave Stapleford each year to take up positions with airlines and there are currently 450 students on the books - 130 of them working towards a professional career.

With such an inclusive environment, it's no surprise that the British Women Pilot's Association's (BWPA) regional branch bases itself at Stapleford. Cheryl Sullivan, Ronnie Andrews, Amy Chau, Sue Rose and Sharon Nicholson regularly meet at the airport to catch up and fly together. Sharon, a captain with London Executive Aviation, flies a Citation for a living.

She says, "I learned to fly here at 17; there were a couple of women and two female instructors. Considering the school was smaller then, that wasn't too bad and I was always treated the same as the male pilots.
"It was just a hobby to start with but I fell in love with it. I then wanted to fly so much that a career in aviation was the only way I could do it every day!"

Sharon, who has been flying for 31 years, worked at the club as a receptionist initially and then moved on to instructing. She says that when the time comes to hang up her headset at LEA, she'd be happy to work at SFC for a third time.

As a successful female pilot, Sharon can't understand why there are still relatively few women flying. "I still get the feeling that women don't think flying is something that women do."
Luckily Sharon's own positive outlook has filtered through to her son, Chris, who is a first officer with LEA. "I remember when I moved onto the turboprop, Chris came up to me in the clubhouse and flung his arms around me and told me how proud he was. Teenagers don't do that kind of thing so it meant a lot!"

ROSE-TINTED VIEW

SUE Rose, former head of press and PR at the Royal Festival Hall, learned to fly at SFC two years ago after her daughter bought a trial lesson for her 62nd birthday. She says, "I always loved aeroplanes; I was fascinated by them. My father was an engineer and was involved in Sir Frank Whittle's development of the jet engine, so I suppose it's in the blood. "I thought I'd have a few lessons for fun, see what it was like. Once I started though, I felt compelled to do my PPL."

WORDS Kirsten Corrigan
PHOTOS Dave Spurdens/www.extremesportsphoto.com