{"id":7820,"date":"2018-01-29T12:09:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T18:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/?p=7820"},"modified":"2018-01-29T12:09:01","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T18:09:01","slug":"women-with-wings-dfw-operations-part-two-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/2018\/01\/29\/women-with-wings-dfw-operations-part-two-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Women With Wings: DFW Operations – Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

Missed part one? Catch up here.<\/a><\/p>\n

In the DFW control center, their main function is to orchestrate the aircraft traffic coming in and out of the airport to ensure a safe, orderly operation. Like maestros conducting a symphony, the Envoy ground traffic controllers and coordinators carefully arrange the DFW ramp into a beautiful song composed of millions\u00a0of\u00a0moving parts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Together with American Airlines, Envoy controls\u00a0its\u00a0ground traffic in the newly built Control center at DFW. Within the Envoy ranks, three women with decades of experience have become Mensa-caliber puzzle masters,\u00a0piecing together a successful day of operations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this three-part series, we\u2019ll meet a few of the women who make the \u201cheartbeat\u201d of Envoy Operations, and learn how people come together from all different backgrounds to meet a common goal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ginny Pelotte \u2013 Operations Planning Agent<\/h3>\n

\"IMG_DFW_OPS_Women_with_wings-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ginny Pelotte poses in front of her desk at the DFW Virtual Control Center.<\/h5>\n

It was a morning just like any other in the control center, and Ginny, wearing her festive red holiday sweater, was prepared to take on the busy ten-o\u2019clock block of departures in Terminal B. She put on her headset, stood in front of the giant touch-screen monitors that showed a map of the terminal with little plane icons, and began chatting with pilots requesting direction.<\/p>\n

Like a chess master moving pawns and bishops, she pressed the little plane icons and moved them in and out of gates, down runways and onto maintenance pads. All the while, she talks to about three different people each minute, and greets everyone with a friendly hello.<\/p>\n

Watching the way Ginny effortlessly performed the seemingly arduous task, it\u2019s apparent that she has spent many years mastering her position of ground traffic controller. All together from the different airlines and job titles, Ginny has 34 years of experience in the aviation industry.<\/p>\n

Not in Kansas anymore<\/h3>\n

\"img-dfw-ops-ginny-pelotte-2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo taken by Ginny of the Swearingen Metro during her days in Roswell working for Air Midwest.<\/h5>\n

But for a short time, Ginny almost became a teacher when she moved from her teeny, tiny hometown in Kansas to Portland, Oregon to pursue an education degree. However, Ginny had an urge \u201cto see the world\u201d she said, so she applied for a job at Air Midwest in Roswell, New Mexico where she would begin her aviation career as a gate agent.<\/p>\n

Over the next nine years, Ginny would move from Roswell to Knoxville, Tenn. and then to\u00a0DFW where she worked as a gate agent for Flagship Airlines, one of the regional carriers that would eventually merge to become Envoy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came into the airline business on the ground floor,\u201d said Ginny. \u201cAs an agent at the smaller airports, I would check-in passengers, guide in the plane, carry bags, then get on the intercom to board passengers and pretend like I wasn\u2019t out of breath. In my position now, I have a sympathetic understanding of what they are going through since I have that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although she didn\u2019t become an educator, she said she has \u201cno regrets\u201d about joining the airline industry. She gets to travel all over the world with friends and family, she still uses her excellent teaching and people skills to train coworkers, and, best of all, she gets to work closely with people from so many backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a people-person, I love that everyone has a story,\u201d said Ginny. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to see the world through other people\u2019s eyes. It makes you grow as a person and as a traveler.\u201d<\/p>\n

Courage knows no gender<\/h3>\n

\"img-dfw-ops-ginny-pelotte-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ginny (center) with friends on a trip to the Alps in 1986.<\/h5>\n

Growing up on a farm, Ginny said that there wasn\u2019t much of a gender struggle between her and her brother. Just because she was a girl that didn\u2019t mean she didn\u2019t do any heavy lifting or dangerous jobs around the farm \u2013 \u201ceveryone used the scary, heavy machinery,\u201d she said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

In the workplace, she admits that women sometimes have to assert themselves to get ahead, but that she didn\u2019t really experience much of that in her job. She believes that as long as prove yourself, people will find value in you and your work.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a kid, we learned to let go of titles, which allowed us to be more creative in our interests,\u201d said Ginny. \u201cNow, I\u2019m very confident in my abilities and know that I can always make myself useful in any job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her role-model throughout her life was her great aunt who lived to be 104 years old. Ginny spent a lot of time learning from her great aunt, who always loved to try new things.<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s where Ginny got her inspiration and courage to change career paths, relocate to unknown places and travel to faraway lands on a whim. Regardless of what her path could have been, following her inspirations \u2013 and her itch to travel \u2013 was perfect for Ginny.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back, sure I could have made more money as a doctor or a professor,\u201d said Ginny. \u201cBut, in the long run, money is secondary. I believe I made the right choice for my family and for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Missed part one? Catch up here. In the DFW control center, their main function is to orchestrate the aircraft traffic coming in and out of the airport to ensure a safe, orderly operation. Like maestros conducting a symphony, the Envoy ground traffic controllers and coordinators carefully arrange the DFW ramp into a beautiful song composed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":42213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[105,64,65,66,77,144,146,185,110,58,86,51,68,118,79,80,63,100,91,82,83],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7820"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.envoyair.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}