Meet three women who have
embarked on careers in the
aviation industry. This program
profiles Captain Tanya Sprathoff,
pilot and crew commander of an
Aurora CP-140; Isabelle Marsan,
an aircraft mechanic who
maintains and repairs internal
systems on airliners; and Dawn
Patterson, a bartender turned
aircraft structures mechanic
responsible for aircraft inspection and repair. Remarks from
co-workers and supervisors provide additional layers to the descriptions of each
job. View a preview video clip and read below for descriptions of each segment,
or scroll to the bottom to order!
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“I turned 18 at an air cadet boot camp. The
next day, I went to the recruiting center
and told them what my dream was.” Tanya
flies one of Canada's Maritime patrol
aircraft, which is an Aurora CP-140. She is
a crew commander, and leads a team of 13
personnel. Her missions involve antisubmarine
warfare, patrolling and enforcing
Canada's 200-mile fishing limit, surface surveillance and monitoring of Maritime
shipping traffic, and watching over the Arctic for sovereignty control. She also
participates in search and rescue operations.
It's a life that she enjoys. It brings together her love of flying, and other
challenges such as the strategic thinking required in anti-submarine warfare. In
addition, she appreciates working with a high-caliber, professional crew of
people.
After completing high school, she continued her education at Royal Roads in
Victoria, and then went on to the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston
where she earned a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering. Although it is
unnecessary to have a university degree to be a commercial pilot, she says a
degree is required to fly and be an officer in the military.
Tanya finds that the military provides
encouragement for people to move ahead, get
promoted, and move around. Postings to
different national locations and places overseas
are possible. Regardless of locale, however, the
same standard benefits available to all
personnel apply.
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Isabelle Marsan is the third woman to be
hired as an aircraft mechanic at the airline
for which she works. She works on all
systems of commercial airplanes: flight
controls, hydraulic systems, landing gear,
engines (exterior only), pressurization
systems, security systems, and fuel tanks.
Eventually, when she becomes licensed,
she will be assigned specific systems to work on and take responsibility for.
Isabelle has also done sheet metal work and finds her job as an aircraft
mechanic physically more demanding, since it involves both carrying and
installing parts. Isabelle finds her work mentally stimulating because the job
requires her to learn every system on the plane.
In terms of advancement within the airline company, an aircraft mechanic can
eventually become a foreman, inspector, or accident investigator, to name a
few opportunities. The salary for an aircraft
mechanic can vary from company to
company. Since her company is unionized,
Isabelle says that the pay is good there
compared to a company that maintains
smaller aircrafts. For Isabelle, the field of
aviation is very interesting. She feels it
presents wonderful new opportunities for
women who enjoy mechanics, manual labor
and technical knowledge.
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For Dawn Patterson, the best part about
being an Aircraft Structures Mechanic is
the hands-on work. She looks for corrosion
on the planes, does inspections, removes
damaged parts and does sheet metal repairs. A lot of her job involves
fabricating of parts and riveting. There are
many tools required and a variety of
aircraft to work on.
Prior to this career, Dawn worked in bars as a server, bartender, and restaurant
manager. She did a job shadow as part of a technical school course and found a
hidden interest in mechanical work. After completing a 2 year technical school
program, she was hired into her current position. “I did a job shadow and was
really interested in the aircraft industry. They
remembered me two years later when I came
back with my resume.”
The benefit to having a license - in addition to
higher pay - is that a mechanic can basically
work anywhere in the world. One of Dawn's
co-workers spends four months working on
helicopters internationally in the oil industry.
Click the image to the left
for a preview video clip!
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Developed in 2006 in Canada, the Career Options for Women series is an
outstanding resource for schools wanting to attract women and girls to Science,
Technology and Trades!
Please Note: These videos are an excellent depiction of women in these jobs
and are interspersed with Canadian salary and labor statistics, which are
similar to the numbers in the United States. As there is a no-return policy on
these publications, please make sure to look at the preview video clip for the
DVD(s) you are ordering.
Pricing - Career Options for Women: Emerging Technologies DVDs
