Female pilot inspires younger generation at UCA Aviation Academy

CONWAY, Ark. – The UCA Aviation Academy is taking off this week, and a woman with her own place in aviation history is waiting in the wings.

While Annie Fitzgerald now acts as a recruiter for the academy, just a few years ago she was in the cockpit.

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Fitzgerald lived a dream many UCA students are just starting and hopes her story will inspire others to reach for the stars.

“I didn’t want to turn 50 years old and look at my life and think, ‘What if?’” she said.

Fitzgerald’s first job in aviation was as a flight attendant. In the 1980s, most women wouldn’t even have dreamed they’d be sitting in the pilot’s chair.

Fitzgerald was different.

“Nobody thought I could do it,” she said.

As a dare, Fitzgerald enrolled in flight lessons and fell in love with the front seat. Still working as a flight attendant, Fitzgerald flew in her free time.

“Every day off for 14 months, all I did was learn how to fly,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald’s first job as a pilot was flying night freight, transporting canceled checks.

“I usually started at midnight, got done at 4 or 5 in the morning, slept for three hours, and then went to work as a flight attendant,” she recalled.

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In the early 1990s, Fitzgerald applied for a commuter airline in Chicago.

“That’s when they told me when I was interviewing that there would never be a female captain here,” she said.

Her reaction to that statement was, “Watch me.” In 1992, she became the first female captain for United Express, the same airline that turned her down years prior.

She went on to fly commercial for Spirit Airlines and then Southwest Airlines, totaling 28 years in the sky.

“It was heaven, it was absolute heaven,” Fitzgerald said.

As the time turns to the next generation, Fitzgerald is hoping her story will inspire others, taking their lives to unimaginable heights.

“Never give up,” Fitzgerald said.

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Fitzgerald said UCA’s Aviation Academy has one female enrolled. She’s hoping for more in the future. Registration for next semester opens in April.

More information can be found at UCA.edu/Aviation.

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