Women in and out of Uniform

[spazsinbad]

Lt. j.g. Madeline “Maddy” Swegle will be flying the EA-18G
31 Jul 2020 Lt. Michelle Tucker

"Lt. j.g. Madeline G. Swegle was designated a naval aviator and received her Wings of Gold on Jul. 30 and she will now head to NAS Whidbey Island to train as a EA-18G pilot with [the “Vikings”] VAQ-129...."

Source: https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News- ... d-in-texas

[35_aoa]

giddyup.....I might *know* a guy who traded in his active duty fighter to be a reserve VAQ-129 IP. Looking forward to *him* meeting this fine American and Naval Aviator.

[sprstdlyscottsmn]

giddyup.....I might *know* a guy who traded in his active duty fighter to be a reserve VAQ-129 IP. Looking forward to *him* meeting this fine American and Naval Aviator.

Does this mean *your friend * has now flown every F/A-18?

[35_aoa]

Does this mean *your friend * has now flown every F/A-18?

haha that would be a true statement, save the YF-17 if you were to count that. I guess he just doesn't like big life changes

[sprstdlyscottsmn]

Does this mean *your friend * has now flown every F/A-18?

haha that would be a true statement, save the YF-17 if you were to count that. I guess he just doesn't like big life changes

I was considering saying "every Hornet", but even though the YF-17 was called the Cobra I thought it could lead to confusion, so I specifically went with F/A-18. Tell *him* congratulations, from a big NavAv fan.

[spazsinbad]

A Woman’s Right to Fly and Fight
Aug 2020 Morgan Smith

"In 1993, before the Air Force permitted women to fly in combat, new pilot Jeannie Flynn requested the F-15.
...

...she had come to understand that the price of doing what she loved—and was very good at—was the unyielding spotlight her accomplishments attracted. Even if she did not embrace the role of pioneer, she would eventually learn to accept it.

Leavitt is now a two-star general based in San Antonio, Texas, where until recently she commanded the Air Force recruiting services. During my interviews with her in the spring, she spoke with the well-honed cadences of someone who has spent her professional life in the public eye. But she was also friendly and animated, especially when discussing her favorite airplane, the F-15....

...By the time Leavitt became the first woman to enter the fighter track at the Weapons Instructor Course—an Air Force flying school equivalent to the U.S. Navy’s Top Gun and available to only the most talented aviators—being a pioneer had become familiar territory. Says Leavitt: “It was like any place where I was the first. There were people who didn’t want to see women there. There were people who were waiting to see how I’d do.”

When she graduated in 1998, she had grown tired of being separated out from her male colleagues and put in front of cameras for news conferences every time she broke a barrier. “It’s a hard program for anyone,” says Leavitt. “It is an incredibly challenging program. That was why, at the end, I really was opposed to any kind of attention focused on me. Yes, I graduated, but everyone else who was graduating with me worked just as hard, and I didn’t think it was appropriate, given the nature of that program, to highlight me.”

It was her turn to tell the Air Force no. (There were no press releases or news conferences highlighting her graduation.)

Leavitt is now a command pilot, an Air Force designation that means she has logged more than 3,000 hours. That time includes more than 300 hours in combat while stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. She says her most memorable combat missions are the ones in which she flew the F-15 to support ground troops. These close-air support missions, which capitalized on the F-15E’s low-altitude capabilities (a terrain-following radar and a digital moving map of the ground below), helped protect U.S. soldiers who were taking fire or whose battlefield positions were about to be discovered by enemy scouts....

...Though the Air Force has made advancements in designing gear for female aviators, in some ways the service has changed only marginally since Leavitt first sat in a fighter cockpit.

Women are still only a small fraction of Air Force fighter pilots. Currently, there are only 85 in the entire Air Force, making up three percent of the total, according to Air Force data. The number has only nudged upward in the last 20 years, from one percent in 2000. The percentage of female air personnel overall has also remained roughly level, climbing from just 19 to 20 percent since then....

Photo: "On April 28, 1993, General Merrill McPeak announced the selection of Sharon Preszler, Martha McSally, and Leavitt (left to right) as the Air Force’s first female combat pilots. (DOD / Robert D. Ward)" https://thumbs-prod.si-cdn.com/WvAue2wm ... 0_live.jpg

Source: https://www.airspacemag.com/airspacemag ... 180975332/

[spazsinbad]

The F-35 has had better criteria from the getgo and I guess NEW AIRCRAFT designs needed this official change as well.

USAF Looks to Build Planes, Workstations to Fit More Aviators
07 Aug 2020 Brian W. Everstine

"Tall or small, the Air Force wants to ensure that Americans of more shapes and sizes can fit into its future aircraft. The service on Aug. 4 updated its guidance on the minimum physical size requirements used to design cockpits and aircrew flight equipment, which were originally based on a 1967 survey of male pilots.

The parameters established by the 1967 study exclude about 44 percent of women, including 74 percent of Black women, 72 percent of Latino women and 61 percent of Asian American women unless they are granted a waiver, according to an Air Force release. Under the original guidance, for example, less than 9 percent of women met the requirements to fly the F-15 without a waiver, the service said.

“Ensuring our maximum recruitment population can be that deciding factor [that] nearly doubles our odds in what is already a stacked deck,” Air Force acquisition boss William B. Roper said in the guidance. “The time to move out is now.”...

...Now, all program managers will work with their lead commands to use the body sizes of the middle 95 percent of the U.S. recruiting population—not the current aircrew population—when setting the design specifications for aircrew flight equipment and the stations where Airmen sit, according to the guidance....

...The move is the latest in a series of steps the Air Force is taking to open up its cockpits to a more diverse pool of Airmen, and make flight equipment more comfortable for women. In May, the Air Force removed the minimum and maximum height requirement for applicants who want to fly. Previous requirements disqualified 44 percent of women between the ages of 20 and 29, according to Air Education and Training Command. Additionally, the service is redesigning G-suits, flight suits, urinary devices, and survival vests to better suit female pilots.""

Source: https://www.airforcemag.com/usaf-looks- ... -aviators/

[femalepilot]

Russian First Female Fighter pilot Cadets under training:
девушки-курсанты истребител летчиков



https://www.sarpoosh.com/images/interesting-image/girls-pilot-russia990525-photos.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryPorn/comments/i620t5/female_military_pilot_in_l39_trainer_krasnodar/

[femalepilot]

Female Police Helicopter pilot: Lt Laura Gerding

[spazsinbad]

To get more female pilots, the Air Force is changing the way it designs weapons
19 Aug 2020 Valerie Insinna

"...Ruttenber pointed out that the specifications for legacy aircraft will remain a hurdle for the progression of female pilots. “Even if the F-35 is 97 percent accommodating for women, I still can’t get there because the T-38,” which is used for fighter pilot training, “has a 41 percent accommodation envelope for women,” she said...."

"...However, Roper acknowledged that more work has yet to be done. “Changing the policy is one thing. Changing the platforms is another. And that’s going to require cost to do. My next job, aside from designing future systems differently — which we’ll do — is to find options to bring systems into greater compliance with the new policy and then to advocate tooth and nail for the funding needed to do it,” he said...."

Source: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your ... s-weapons/

[femalepilot]

Meet the first Hungarian female fighter pilot candidate:
Lénárt Kinga hadnagy: Sikeresen vette az első akadályokat az első magyar női vadászpilóta-jelölt

[femalepilot]

Meet Ashli Blain, 19-years-old Teen Helicopter Pilot Fighting California Wildfire

[femalepilot]

From Flight Attendant To Police Helicopter Pilot: First Female of China
福建唯一的警航直升机女飞行员。:Zheng Lu (郑璐)

[spazsinbad]

Exclusive: IAF's Rafale Squadron To Get First Woman Fighter Pilot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzlGwqSXwlA

[femalepilot]

FCK-1 IDF Fighter pilot Flying Officer (女飛官) Lt. Guo Wenjing (郭文靜) is now the fourth female fighter pilot in the history of Taiwan's air force (中華民國空軍)