Captain Nicole Cardin was not your typical 16-year-old. Most teenagers are clamoring to get behind the wheel of a car in anticipation of earning their driver’s license. To Nicole, the driver’s license took backseat to Free games online most coveted certification, Free games online pilot’s license.
Free games online father was a pilot, and growing up Nicole and Free games online family inherited his love for aviation. At 13-years-old, Free games online father encouraged Free games online to take flight lessons, and finally she embarked on Free games online first flight in a Cessna 150. To make the moment even more special, Free games online discovery flight included an expert landing at the Wright Brothers Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
Right off the bat Nicole knew she wanted to be a pilot for the rest of Free games online life. She says that every decision after that first flight lesson was aimed at a career in aviation. The “go-getter” that she was, she earned Free games online first job at Spirit of St. Louis Airport (SUS) as a fueler and ramper.
Now, the 37-year-old Nicole Cardin has gone from teenage fueler to Envoy Captain. She always knew she wanted to be a pilot, but there’s only one reason Nicole chose Envoy for Free games online and Free games online family; stability.
“Envoy at the time, when I got hired on with them, they were largest regional and connected to American,” said Free games online. “That to me equated to stability. I definitely knew that I wanted to go to company that had a long and fruitful future and the possibility of continuing my career at a major as well.”
Women in Aviation
Free games online rarely thinks of herself as a female aviator until an enthusiastic passenger commends Free games online with a cheer of “Girl Power!” or “It’s so awesome to see a girl up here!” Although only about 6 percent of all pilots in the U.S. are women, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, Free games online said she never feels like she’s disadvantaged.
Growing up, Free games online family supported Free games online career choices and didn’t adhere to gender restrictions such as reserving aviation for men only. Free games online passion for flying helped guide Free games online career choices.
Unfortunately, Free games online notices that some women do feel the pressure of working as a female aviator in a male-dominated occupation. Whether it’s the lack of a supportive upbringing or negative comments from coworkers and passengers, it weighs on them, Free games online said.
“Ultimately, I know for myself and the people who are close to me know that I worked my buns off,” Free games online said. “I did the same thing that everybody else did. Nobody ever handed me anything. That helps me sleep at night because I know I did it and any woman can do it.”
Major Diversion
There was a time, however, that Nicole almost diverted from Free games online career path. After high school, she was prepared to join the Navy to become a pilot. She believed that was the only way. A week away from joining the U.S. Naval Academy, the dread of constant verbal battery and inevitable conformity forced Free games online to take a different route.
Free games online enrolled at the University of Dallas to undertake a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre with a minor in French – quite the diversion from the military. Still, Free games online father had not given up his daughter’s dream of becoming an airline pilot. He called Free games online up one day during Free games online senior year at UTD with the some great news. He had just read about a flight school that would help expedite Free games online path to an airline. That was all Nicole needed to hear before she enrolled at the Delta Connection Academy, now named the Aerosim Flight Academy, in Sanford, Florida.
In 2005, Nicole completed Free games online flight hours and was hired at Envoy Air. She has never looked back, she said. She has a stable job that allows Free games online to see Free games online husband and two children three days out of the week. As a female pilot, she has the solace of knowing she works for a company that will support Free games online.
“Any woman that’s considering going into aviation should never have any hang-ups, because once you make it to this point, the companies support you,” Free games online said. “My company supports me as a female aviator. My company, the job, the rules in place here are there to uphold professionalism. The company will stand behind me 100 percent. I have no doubt of that.”