Aviator & Mentor: Mina Carlson’s Remarkable Flight Path
Mina Carlson at the controls!
Ready for takeoff? Join us as we soar into the captivating world of aviation with Mina Carlson. From high school dreams to becoming a certified private and commercial pilot, flight instructor, and serving in the Air Force Reserves, Mina shares her remarkable journey while balancing multiple roles.
Explore the future of women in aviation, the pilot shortage and Mina’s vision for equality. Discover her experience as the only female flight engineer, conquering imposter syndrome, and empowering future female pilots. Plus get an inside look at Stars of the North, A Women in Aviation Chapter and their upcoming Girls In Aviation Day event. This isn’t just an episode, its your boarding pass to inspiration beyond the clouds!
Mina Carlson works for the Mn Dept. of Transportation Office of Aeronautics and is a MSgt and flight engineer with the 96th Airlift Squadron, Air Force Reserves with overseas deployments. Mina is Stars of the North, A Women In Aviation Chapter event director for the upcoming Girls In Aviation Day event.
Links
Stars of the North, A Women In Aviation Chapter
Girls In Aviation Day Event
WAI Women In Aviation International
EEA GirlVenture Camp
Minnesota Aviation Career Education
Podcast Transcript
Pat:
Fill To Capacity. Crazy, good stories and timely topics. Podcast for people too stubborn to quit and to creative not to make a difference Inspiring, irreverent and informative. Stay tuned. Hi, I'm Pat Benincasa and welcome to Fill To Capacity. Today's episode "Aviator and Mentor Mina Carlson's Remarkable Flight Path. My guest is experienced aviator Mina Carlson. Mina's journey into the skies started in high school and has taken her to some amazing heights. From earning certifications as commercial pilot and as airplane flight instructor, she is a master sergeant in the Air Force Reserves as a C-130 flight engineer with overseas deployments. She also works for the Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Aeronautics. That's not all. Mina is an active member of Stars of the North, and very active, I might add. She's also a mentor for Girl Venture Camp and currently serves as Stars of the North Event Director for this very big upcoming event Girls in Aviation Day. So the fasten seatbelt sign is on and get ready for an exhilarating conversation with Mina as she shares her flight adventures and her inspiring work in promoting women in aviation. Well welcome Mina!
Mina:
Thanks, Pat, your spin, I love your spin, so thank you so much. I never look at it through that lens, so thank you so much. You're quite welcome.
Pat:
I'm sure you don't. You strike me as someone too busy doing things to even think about all of the things you've accomplished. That would make sense. Now, I want to go back to that pivotal moment in high school when you first got interested in aviation. What sparked your passion for flying?
Mina:
I will say it's a backward story, right? Because in high school you're always looking at class structure and timeline. The rumor with the kids was hey, take Mr. Hallgren's class. You get one day a month of field trips. You get out of school one day a month and then it's an easy A class, so he teaches ground school. And I didn't understand that. I just knew I got out of school one day a month For my own, totally different purpose, in a year-long high school elective science class. I signed up for it as a junior, you know that's your pivotal 14, 15 years old. I think, three quarters through the year I had been bitten by the aviation bug and that was it. That was completely it. And they'll say that that teacher was super instrumental in terms of the exposure, the educating, the inspiring, the engaging conversations. I did get a basic understanding of ground school for private pilot. He was a private pilot himself, I don't know the rest of his ratings. He was also the physics teacher so he could explain it in layman's terms and how it applied to flight and those field trips. The original intention was to get out of school one day a month. We went to Faribault, we went Glider Flying, we went to MSP. We've got to visit the MAC.
Pat:
By the way, the MAC and MSP are airports.
Mina:
We got to see the airport through a different set of lenses and experience it through the different set of lenses. Did you know, at MSP itself, our baggage claim area, the tracking system, you give the airline your luggage and you start praying that your luggage is going to follow you. There's over 30 miles of track that your bag may travel for it to end up in the right little cart to make it to the aircraft. We got to see that firsthand. I'm a junior in high school, right, I'm like holy cow, what's that? We did get to go flying in a Cessna 172. There was just constant exposure and it wasn't just to flying, it was to anything he could feasibly work out. Back then we used to have a weather station up in Princeton, Minnesota. I grew up and attended and graduated from Elk River High School. We have a Great Lake region base for weather back then in Princeton, right in our own backyard for the Great Lakes. Once I was bitten by the bug that was all I needed. So that teacher was pivotal. He got me into what's called the ACE Academy, that junior and senior summer, Aviation Career Education Academy. Thats still a strong summer camp that is available to young people today. Fantastic, fast and furious camp! It's evolved. I went back in the 90s, so I can say that I'm an alumni of the camp today in Minnesota. Back then we used to have Northwest Airlines and their training facility in the Minnesota, so I did get to go into a 747 simulator and take off and try to fly it as a 16 year old! This camp had tentacles that I didn't know about and then we spent some time learning about aviation history. The Lindbergh family, it's all right here in the Twin Cities, it's right up in Little Falls. So pivotal ages and I'm just soaking it in. Yeah, teacher helped me get into college. I went to a private aeronautical school. You know it just started on the path, but I won't say it was one pivotal moment. It was a series throughout a whole entire academic year.
Pat:
What I love about your story is that all it takes is one fantastic teacher. And, I have to say, teaching art at a high school level, I loved it because in high school that is a crossroads for young people finding out who they are and they often grow into who they're going to become, and your story just amplifies that. Wow, what a story and what opportunities you had. Now you've had quite the journey with certifications as a private and commercial pilot, airplane flight instructor and as an Air Force flight engineer on C 130s. Could you share how your transition from being a private pilot to earning your commercial pilot certificate shaped your path in aviation?
Mina:
And those certificates. Once you go through the process, the training and the academia portion of that, those certificates are with you for life. And with those are certificates, there is constant retraining in any technical profession. You need to sharpen your tool always. There's always something that you adamantly should be engaged in just to keep in the conversation, in the know, in the books, and that's the academia knowledge part of it. And then there's a stick and rudder component of it. You know if you can maintain proficiency, layman term, stick and rudder. So just manipulating the airplane and whatever airplane it is, it doesn't have to be your standard training plane. Go fly all the makes and models. I think I've been super fortunate. I've gotten exposure and been able to fly and you know Jenny Cubs with zero, 15 knots and figure out how to do a steep turn and something like that. Versus I've been type rated as an SIC in a Lear Jet so I've been able to sit right seat in the Lears and kind of the speed and everything happens at an amplified pace. And then you know just all of the different making models. When the opportunity or the door has opened for me to get into a plane, even if for half an hour. You know, fun flight like this past weekend up at the seaplane conference up in Brainerd Minnesota. So kind of putting it out there like hey, you know, I'd love to get exposure to your plane, I'd love to get you know, see what it's like to take off in this water situation. So we were able to figure out something where I could just kind of not necessarily proficiency in that regard, but exposure.
Pat:
I gotta ask you this so when you're in a plane, a jet, whatever you're flying, is it the moment that the plane takes lift off, or is it when you're rolling in the clouds? What is that exhilaration? Where's that moment of magic for you?
Mina:
Mine has always been 10,000 foot sunrises. That has always been my go-to experience. So, yeah, taking off, I found, as any aspiring pilot, it's that okay, we're gonna take off and we don't think about the backend coming back around to land. That's coming down the road right, like all systems are go, we've got a mechanically sound machine that we can take up into the air and then we get off into lift and then it can be task saturation, because you are outside of the plane in terms of situational awareness, you've gotta be in communication with somebody. So this is where we say multitasking is a thing. However, it might be a kind of akin to task switching, because we've gotta do everything really well but you only have 10 seconds to do that, 20 seconds to do this, and then you've got, maybe, if you've got into autopilot, you maybe have two minutes to do this. So, like it's task switching and doing it at a proficient and high level of expectation. I love the shadow when the plane hits the sun and you get your shadow on the clouds. It doesn't happen very often, it truly doesn't. It's a unique sight scope. So when we're up and flying up above the clouds and we can get the shadow. But the other one that my go-to experience is that sunrise so maybe clouds down below and dark dreary. You wanna get up above the clouds because you know it's sunny up there but it's the sunrise. So, as you're clearing space, I won't say that I ever I fly as high as to like, oh, the curvature of the earth. None of us do. We all get exposed to those early sunrise flights and just the way the sun comes up and just kind of if it's on your left or right or if you're flying straight into it to the east or whatever it may be. But yeah, that early 10,000 foot sunrise is my go-to Like. That's my why.
Pat:
You've just painted a beautiful image for us, Thank you. Now you're talking about flying planes. What motivated you to become an airplane flight instructor? And I think the bigger question is how has teaching others to fly influenced your growth as a pilot?
Mina:
Teaching it, as you know, being a teacher, it hones your skill. You've gotta be sharper than the data you're regurgitating and passing on, because you should be questioned on it. You should be tested on it by that unknowing person. And a part of this career path is in any type of flying for higher position experience. Experience is what every single employer is looking for and primarily because you know it's reliability, it's for insurance purposes, because you become easier to insure with the more experience. And experience equates to hours in this segment of the aerospace industry. So it's just, it's an hour thing. It truly truly is. And typically flight instructing is a pathway where you can go and accumulate your hours. And oh, by the way, a byproduct of it is you become deeper in your academia knowledge, not necessarily so much stick and rudder because you've gotta let the student manipulate the stick and rudder, but your academia. You get a chance to heighten and kind of explore maybe some of the things that you were unsure of as a young, budding pilot. Now you've transitioned, et cetera. So fast forward, that academia portion that gets embedded and now you're living, breathing, it, stays with you If you continue on the industry. So, for instance, you know where I am today within MnDOT Aeronautics (MnDOT is the Minnesota Department of Transportation. And then where I'm at with doing the FE portion of my military career. It stays with you and it just fast forward. I lean heavily into that knowledge foundation. If not daily, like in big conversations, it comes back, it continuously comes back and I've been fortunate in that regard.
Pat:
Can you share a memorable moment when you realized the impact of your work as a flight instructor on a student's journey?
Mina:
Yes, okay. So, and I laugh because it was a challenging story. So I had a young student. His goal was to be a Border Patrol pilot. He had a tunnel vision. There's no other flying out there. Border Patrol pilot, that was the end goal and he was fast and furious with it too. We are progressing really well through all of the syllabus required items. And then it just happened to this specific story that cemented in transfer of knowledge, we did emergency procedures. And in emergency procedures, I didn't know how he felt about the airplane. He didn't like the airplane, apparently, and I cut the engine above a lake, knowing that there was a runway about a couple of miles off, in a different direction, very close, easy to get to, easy to manipulate, easy to have made a successful emergency landing. Finally, you know, we were a couple hundred feet above the water. I was like, oh, engine's back, let's go to that airport. That's a couple of miles away that we should probably should have gone to in an emergency and made some radio calls you know just kind of preparatory type things and handled the emergency different. We get on the ground, and his decision was I don't like the equipment, I'm like huh. So in a training scenario, you know, taking these basic emotional intelligence aspects as well and then taking the professional aspect of; no, we've got life as first, if we can ,equipment, and then all the ancillary type things. So we had to have a conversation about the integrity of life as first, and then equipment, and then the logical progression of trying to work through an emergency. But yeah, his young mind was saying no, I don't like this plane. In specific, in the flight school I'm like you realize, if you're gonna go fly for government, you're gonna have a varying degree of equipment that you're made In terms of a flight instructor. That was one of those pivotal moments where I was just kind of like, oh okay, all right, I was gonna take all of my skills in this one to muster through the lesson, and then we got back to the flight school and then he was able to come back a couple of days later and he's like I had a chance to think about it. I'm still focused on the same goal. It grew his situational awareness bubble by having a spot on conversation. Like I forced the landing over at the airport right next door to where I initiated the emergency landing. But we've been having that spot on and it was just a different approach because usually you have a debrief once you land talk about the good, the bad, you know stuff. That could have been the whole thing progress. In that moment I was like no, we gotta go land right now and talk. It's just so many different instances of how those real life examples is it similar to any flight scenario I've ever had ever after that? Absolutely not. Like not a single other student tried to do that ever.
Pat:
That might be a good thing. Okay, I'm gonna shift gears here. You are a master sergeant in the Air Force Reserves, You've had overseas deployments and you work for the Minnesota Department of Transportation in the Office of Aeronautics. You do volunteer and mentoring work. How do you juggle all of these different roles and are there enough hours in the day for you?
Mina:
That's a million dollar question. There are not enough hours. But I'm getting better at carving time out, for I think this last two or three years taught us of self-care, so I'm learning to carve more time out for myself. Only, I won't say I'm a master at scheduling, because there is no such thing. I do live by a schedule though. So in my military schedule we try to start planning that about six weeks prior, and then second half of the month is really when we get solidified for the upcoming month. So that helps. I get two week notification about for the monthly flying, the bigger stuff, the bigger exercises, the bigger TDSs, those we know well in advance and those get written into a. I'm a paper calendar person. What is a TDS Temporary duty station? Oh, okay, thank you, yeah, so I have enough advance notice where I can take that information in. I'm a flyer in the reserve and everybody always thinks oh, it's one weekend a month, two weeks a year. On the flying aspect, I entitle it my part-time, full-time job. So because at some point you know you may be out at the base up to six times a month and then you've got drill weekend because we're flying, we have proficiency requirements, we have testing requirements, we have a lot of ancillary requirements to keep us, like I had previously mentioned in the books and quite proficient. There's a checklist of what I'm required of on a monthly and or quarterly or annual, like there's a checklist for me to be always constantly working to. So I have those tool pieces that they give to me that I can incorporate into my Monday through Friday life, because now I've got a Monday through Friday life right. And that's over on the DOT side. So working with that DOT is extremely military friendly. So I'm able to pre-post and give plenty of notification that when I do know of something that I can manage meetings, you know like a month out, I'm updating my outlook calendar and kind of, to the best of my knowledge, anything that happens outside of that I've got uploaded in my calendar. So it's transparent to my scheduling needs. And then, yes, like you mentioned, the volunteer stuff, right, Thank goodness board meetings only happen once a month and I break it down into chunks, being a senior mentor at the Girl Venture Camp during the summer, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in the Air Venture, it's the birth of the Experimental Aviation Association. So Oshkosh, or we call it Air Venture or we call it EAA in the industry, is the largest air show in the world and that's in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. So me personally, I've been in the industry for almost 30 years. I have physically been going to Air entureV for 21 or 22 years. We are trying to date back some of the very first pictures and we went to family vacations well before any of this journey started. So this would date me back into the high school years or even middle school years when I first started attending. So it's an air show right and for years I just went because the largest air show in the world right my backyard. I've made it work. And then, in 2014, opportunity to be a camp mentor. I don't know what that is, but I certainly wish that there had been something around like that in the 90s. Again, it's another form of being bitten by the aviation bug went to that camp as a mentor and just was in awe of the female power that this camp brought in. I was having imposter syndrome because of what these women were doing within the industry and what their accomplishments were like. Mine are pale in comparison to some of these females that are in this camp. Again, a different type of aviation bug, but I was bitten. So how do I do this? How do I continue on? What do I do? Because this wasn't offered for me when I was that pivotal age. I didn't have all of these. I didn't know about this resource and it wasn't existent when I went to school. How can I grow this and how can I be a part of this conversation? Fast forward now to the 20s. We're talking about workforce, we're talking about aviation education, et cetera, et cetera. It's a fast and furious conversation because the numbers are proving that we need to fill the pipeline. I was 14, 15, I'm thinking to myself. I just want to pass this along. It's grown, it's involved my segment and my component. I come to the camp as a military representation. I am an orchestrator at that point and just kind of getting military coordination within the camp, having a voice in the career opportunity. It does take some time though.
Pat:
I imagine it does. But one of the things I think is key that you said in this part of the discussion self-care and, I think, anyone going up in a plane or any walk of life. You love what you do, but there is that peace that, for as much as you love what you do and you're full throttle okay, I'm using a little bit of your okay, all right, so you're going full throttle into your career, but there is a point when self-care is as important as the passion for your work, and I think you model that in your own revelation, like whoa, I need to do a little bit of self-care, I need to take some time off or I need to do whatever it is that you do, and I'm really glad that you brought that up, because I think that's incredibly important.
Mina:
Oddly enough, a lot of my vacations we drive to.
Pat:
No, really, I don't know why that's funny, but it is.
Mina:
A lot of our stuff that we go to is within driving. It's turning off that switch. Yeah, that switch is on. I won't say it's on 24/7, but it's on seven days a week, a big chunk of the day, whether we're having a fun conversation about oh, did you see that? Or we went to a Stoll flying conversation, which is a make and model of aircraft and it was a landing competition, so how quickly they could land in the. On the flip side, how quickly they could take off. Fun even still, aviation Gin, theme based, it's a real thing and it's a real drink. It's always something right, very intentional, with a lot of our long weekends or our getaways driving in terms of automobile, and then going out on the boat and fishing and just anything else going to a cooking class or the other stuff. There's other stuff there's the stuff of life.
Pat:
Yeah, but I got to ask you, Mina, for someone who soars through space. Do you ever feel like you're moving like a snail when you're in the car? Do you ever think, oh my God, I feel every bump. This is taking forever Do you feel that?
Mina:
So I live an hour north of the cities for me to commute to. I'm good least a good 50 minutes of droning, so that doesn't impact me. Like in that first 50 minutes I'm just like that's okay, that's the norm for me. But then we get outside that I'm like, oh, it has to feel that way.
Pat:
I'm glad you were honest with us.
Mina:
Yes, there's always a little piece in my brain was like we could fly this an hour and 10 minutes, yeah.
Pat:
Okay, now tell us what is. Stars of the North.
Mina:
So Stars of the North is a Minnesota chapter of Women In Aviation International, and Women In Aviation International is a professional organization within the industry, developed probably about four decades ago. Primary mission is to engage, inspire and women in aviation. It's not, you know, it's a part of the name but it's also a part of the mission to grow the impact. It's an international organization, so I think a worldwide. There's about 14,000 members and about 87 or 100 chapters globally and I think about 20 some countries. The name within industry. There's mentoring available. There's networking. There's an annual conference brings a lot of exhibitors and career opportunities. It's turned into one of the larger career fairs within the industry. If you are a pilot, there's scholarships too. I think they are in the millions of dollars that they fundraise for annually and it doesn't make a difference of where you're at in your career. If you're a young person, you know that 14 through 18, if you are a collegiate person or even if you're a young professional, they have scholarships that speak to all the different phases that you are in. We're a Minnesota Chapter, we're a part here in the Great Lakes area. I think we have a total of 20 or 30 ish chapters and you can go to their website, wai. org, to find out if there's a chapter close to you, wherever you live. Five days from now, here in the Great Lakes area, there's going to be 40- some Girls In Aviation Day, events. is the brainchild of WAI.
Pat:
That's where I was heading. Yeah, so we're going to have a big event tell us all about that.
Mina:
So and it's funny, that's my last big volunteer thing. Our event here in the Twin Cities. We're turning the corner around nine years, so this coming Saturday is going to be our ninth event. We have been running with it since day one, maybe 10 and a half years ago. The president of WAI took in the collected data in an industry conversation and said where are we at with female representation in the industry? I don't think it was much of a surprise, but it was a surprise that it was still so low, the exact percentage back then. I think we're still looking at less than 5% penetration into the commercial airline females being pilots. Today, decade later, we're about six, almost 7%. So we're still a decade to move a percent. I think you look at tech ops, visualize it as being an A+P mechanic within the industry, but now they've called it technical operations, half of a percent and industry-wide. And that doesn't make a difference if it's for an airline, for general aviation, for corporate, it doesn't make a difference across the platform. Half of a percent of those tech op positions are filled by females. In a decade we have not moved that needle at all on tech ops. How do we make an impact on the education side? Now? The data shows engagement at that critical turning point age and expose, enlighten. By the way, try to talk to the gateways; the teachers and the parents, because parents understand STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), they understand the careers in the science, technology, engineering, math. They understand that concept. What are all the industries you can apply that to? Aviation never comes into that equation. We have engineering, we have doctors, we have architects, we have astronauts, we have all of these other degree platforms that fall underneath the umbrella of STEM. It's just aviation and healthcare. Yes, everybody understands that's a big buzzword. Computer science everybody understands the need for that. Everybody understands civil engineering, mechanical engineering. They all understand that when you say the word aviation, they just think planes. GIAD, Girls in Aviation Day, show them what STEM is in aviation. Get the young people excited about it and then teach the parents and the teachers.
Pat:
Mina, this event is coming up Saturday, September 23rd at
Mina:
Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, is our local event. Like I said, you can go to wai. org to find an event close to you if you're not here in the Twin Cities.
Pat:
I will put live links to Stars of the North and WAI to
Mina:
Yes, we're running our Girls in Aviation Day from 10 am to 3 pm. I just checked the weather this morning. Already it looks good. It's going to be great. In this specific event, we do have a hangar that is going to be full of exhibitors talking about their company because it is a part of brand awareness, right, because we are going to have a lot of different exhibitors. Because they're looking to fill their pipeline and their future workforce too. They want to see young people excited about becoming an engineer or they want to talk to somebody about. This is what I do. I'm a dispatcher and I help people on their worst day, like coordinate a flight. They get them to see an accident, to hospital or something. We don't know who that's going to attract. We have 30 or 40 different exhibitors. We're going to have a section of the hangar called the Discovery Hangar. Discovery Hangar, aka STEM, hands-on. We have something. Hands-on exercise is going to be with lock wire and then adding charms and we're going to be practicing riveting. Those are all tools and skill sets. That an A+P. But guess what? You're going to make a super cute little bracelet out of it. We've got some other things. I don't know if the gyro chair is going to be there this year. (Note: the gyro chair will be there) But we have a gyro chair. It spins 360 degrees at the fastest velocity you can handle. When you get off of it, you've got to shoot a Nerf gun at a target. It's a biophysical effect of velocity changes. That's a STEM conversation. It totally is. Let's put you in a chair, let's spin you around and let's have you shoot a Nerf gun. It's fun, it is STEM disguised. Then win a prize for getting a target. What age group can come to this? We are open from 8 to 18 as our target audience. It is called Girls and Aviation Day. However, we invite all genders, we invite the young at heart, we invite those as well.
Pat:
You did a KARE 11 interview about this very topic. In that article you said Boeing Company says that the industry will need 130,000 pilots in the next two decades. I thought I misread that, because that is an astounding number, Mina.
Mina:
That's a solid number because fleets are modernizing and they're still expanding. Us as a population we continue to grow. Our demand aren't slowing down. That's a real, tangible number based upon the thinking that Boeing putting together statistical analysis to help push congressional initiatives, that's hardcore data. Because behind that data we need funding, we need programs, we need a lot of the domino effect things that are going to help us get there. Let's hone in on the pilot shortage. We've been talking about that for almost 15, 20 years. The data is you have the baby boomers. Their ages aren't changing. We're approaching that sweet spot of retirement for the baby boomers. Workforce numbers. The Department of Labor will tell you exactly the age demographic of any airline or any flying type position, because that's all data that's reported. This is not made up. Numbers in terms of the workforce average age is for pilots is increasing. We're going to merge that with a baby boomer retirement. With those two together we are looking at this whole gap of we have need to fill these other positions because the other part of the element is growth within fleet and demand. Our workforce average age and our baby boomers is a part of that equation of how do we fill that demand Now we need 130,000 different pilots to answer those heavy, heavy questions.
Pat:
Well then I have to ask you this next question, looking ahead, what's your vision for the future of women in aviation? That's a million dollar question.
Mina:
I know it's a biggie. Let's talk about women in aviation, the women in aviation. So we've been flying a little bit over. Wright brothers started flying in the early 1900s. Women have been there since the beginning. A representation in for paid workforce unfortunately about 60 some years. Historically, our data is showing we've only moved the needle of our rep total representation about a percentage every decade. Them overall women are really gravitating towards it. We've seen a huge increase in women in STEM type careers explode over the last two decades. We represent 20% of the workforce in a STEM type career, primarily engineering and healthcare. We are good in those areas. Now let's talk about women in aviation. I've been in the industry for almost three decades. A lot of my conversations, a lot of my meetings, a lot of my training, anything and everything. I've always been the only female. What it is, it'd be nice to have a co-partner. Yes, make it two. Like in the next decade, let's make it three. So when I go to another meeting, there's three of us at the table who have a voice. And I think there's another thing that's going to be part of this conversation to make that shift happen is women are going to be seen as carved in to the industry. Originally the industry was specifically made for the male, dominated everything mentality, anatomy, safety, like family support. It was male concept dominated. I think in the next decade you are going to see the conversation where it's a cultural shift family support, schedule flexibility because of that family support obligation it's already happening, but that exposure the industry itself only tapped into 50% of the eligible workforce. Us women are 50% of the eligible workforce. The other 50 are men, right, so I think you're going to see I truly do, because I get the opportunity at Girls In Aviation Day to talk to young people who have attended our event throughout the years and now we're in a collegiate program. But we need still need to retain them and we still need to foster them and we still need to be there for them because there are barriers still in terms of that cultural shift, that family support. How do we figure out the schedule with our life? We need to be there in those capacities and the mentorship is really starting to take hold in terms of, hey, I'm available for you to reach out to. You're going to start to see that. But I would love to see in the next decade that when I go to a meeting or I go to a training event, that I'm not the only female anymore. We have three of us at the table using our voices. We are qualified to be there and we are being carved in because of all of these other shifts that have happened. You know you're still going to get a few of us that have imposter syndrome or we'll show up at one of those meetings.
Pat:
It's okay, because when you put your mind to doing something that is so amazing and then you start to achieve it, I think that residue of like how the hell did I get here? Oh my God, what am I doing here? But the fact of the matter is, if I could be direct, you worked your ass off, you studied hard, you engage, you just strive to learn and be the best that you can. That voice comes in like yeah, what are you doing here? The other voice should kick in. So well, let me tell you why I'm here. Let's take it from the top. I'm glad you mentioned that because I think a lot of very capable, bright, talented women, in whatever field they're in, may have a residue of that imposter syndrome.
Mina:
Yeah, when I'm always in a new flying platform, a different aircraft, some of the rules are you got to spend at least five hours in it just before you can flip around and taking some time with that machinery and learning some of it. And then when I'm actually like, okay, we're going to start engines, I'm like what are we doing here? It's part of my good check, right, and I think it's more so. It's not because I am not mechanically trained to manipulate, it's just I may be nervous. That's a human reaction. And now, because our Girls In Aviation Day and this is kind of a tooting the horn to the planning team is the largest girls in aviation day globally here in Minnesota. So our planning team put together an excellent event and I'm going to be presenting awards about it. I am presenting white papers on how to host the successful educational event on a national scale at different conferences you know whether it was a WAI conference or whether it was state aviators official conference like there's stuff happening, there's conversations happening about our specific event in our processes. Whatever we're doing, people want to know.
Pat:
Call out some of the names of people in your team that have been involved in this incredible program.
Mina:
Yeah, Jessica Belcher, she's the stars of the North, current president of the chapter. She's instrumental in terms of being kind of that woman behind the veil. There are a lot of things that have to happen on a timely manner. Ambyr Peterson was a recent AOPA CFI recipient of the year, so what that means is she's a certified flight instructor and AOPA, which is a nationally recognized organization for pilots and flight instructors. She was recognized as the number one CFI in terms of her efforts, numbers, success rates, etc. She's here in Minnesota, right. She's a 2022 recipient and she's one of our education, our discovery hangar planners. Samuel Belden has been up and coming within our stars of the North, and this organization is made up of women and men. He's been with the organization for several years and took on the high, high responsibility of coordinating exhibitors and it's like those ones I told you about talking about their careers, their companies, etc. So has come together and he volunteers to put that together. Alexis Render she's a captain with Endeavor Airlines, so there's a high demand there on her professional life. And she does have a family. She's a stepmom of two, so there's another dynamic that she brings to her husband as a pilot with FedEx, so she's got a full schedule in the personal life right, and she took on the role of coordinating all of our statics. So that means everything that is non-movement, all of our airport equipment that shows up, all of the helicopters, planes, you know big stuff. So she takes that on. There's a lot more folks right.
Mina:
Like Bryan Finn. He helps us with all of the electrical power. We need power at this event because we're in an airfield. You got to find power somehow. We have such a depth to our team and everybody comes back every year. Every once in a while, we get one that wants to retire and we're volunteers. So I mean this group of about 12 people, throughout a 10 month planning process, they produced about 800 volunteer hours. We have around an army of 250 day of volunteers. We're five days out. As of Friday, we had already surpassed 1500 registered participants. We have a lot of different opportunities with our event. Like we do have a program for the 14 to 18 year olds. Food trucks, planes. This year we're going to have a specific guest speaker conversation, we're calling it "my daughter's interested in aviation. Now what, Right? This is all about our Saturday and originally let's go back to that mission, that number, that needle, that wasn't moving. So now, fast forward, 10 years later. These are all the things that Stars of the North is doing. It's being duplicated by all the different chapters within the world. Any type of event that any of the chapter is having is a success. Vegas, I know they're having an event there, registered participants are around 400. Oklahoma is around 400. Events all around the globe, Ghana, I know last year had 15 young females. My position within Girls In Aviation Day, and I get to actually, let's just say, consult. I do consult for the other chapters on how to start an event and then what are some elements that they could bring in to try to get their toes wet and then run with it and what are some of the business admin rules? You know, just because there are, it's an event at a live airport, for us. But it doesn't have to be at an airport, so I get to all throughout the year and then you know just kind of field, all of those different opportunities within your locally or, you know, anywhere in the world.
Pat: 42:24
Let's go back to the imposter syndrome. Yeah, that's what I want to say about that. I'm beginning to see the imposter syndrome will go away when the next time you go into a meeting or an aviation classroom, half of it will be women. The problem is the scarcity of other people like us, other women in our fields. That's what generates imposter syndrome. I'm not making light that women feel that, because I have felt that in my own field. In the 80s I was represented by a Minneapolis gallery. They had 18 artists. Three were women. So in all of our respective fields I know in my heart that imposter syndrome will dissolve because of the numbers of women in these fields.
Mina:
Absolutely yes. I had a young female flight engineer from another squadron. I didn't look at a female through the lens that she looked at through. So C-130s, there's not that many in the reservist community whatsoever. I think the fleet-wide we're less than 300, some operating machines in the reserve and then for total flight engineers I think we're a small community as well. We're maybe about 200 souls. So now we're starting to pare it down here in Minnesota. Our squadron, specifically the 96th Airlift Squadron, we're on the federal side. We're not the Guard side, we're in a unique situation but we're the federal. We're a group of 18 flight engineers for our squadron. I'm the only female that's been there for a while. The other female that was there she just retired about a year and a half ago, but her and I were the only females that they had for a good five-year gap. Prior to that was a single female. It's just been solos. Very, very well possible. There's me or there's maybe just two or three others female flight engineers. So now you look at that, like you said, our population is C-130 flight engineer. We're only a couple hundred, big, wide anyways, and now you know we may be looking at less the statistic. I think three or four years, there was less than 30 female flight engineers, system wide within the reserves. So now I had this other young female flight engineer up in Ohio and she's also a certified A+P mechanic with United Airlines, and she was looking at it like what am I doing here? She doesn't have any other role models to go, you know, to picture, like, what is this military career? What is this going to look like? What am I doing here? Am I confident? Am I? Am I always going to make it? You know, like, just because there was no other person like her, yes, so she's paving the path right now and she's, you know, young 20 something. So, she's still trying to figure out some other stuff, right, as a young 20 something from a professional career standpoint. She's just like there's nobody else like me, like I'm doing this on my own, like I don't know where to ask these hard questions. And we have learned to lean into each other because we have similar paths. Mine is only, you know, accelerated by five years, according, you know, per her timeline. That's all it is. Now, who do I go to kind of clear that mentality, c lear that pathway in my brain I have, internally with our, in our squadron, and then I also have external inputs because myself I go to mentors and I go to those that have previously been where I was at, not necessarily in the flying squadron, but, you know, as a career pathway in the military. There isn't that opportunity on the civilian side. I don't think it's as transparent. Okay, how do I collect my toolbox of my mentors who have already been there that can advise me, that can show me, or that imposter syndrome and she was so adamant about like am I qualified? Am I ? Yes, you're qualified? You would checkbox every other checklist, that every other person that is required to be here. You deserve to be here. So, it was different hearing it come from a young person, and I was like, man, I'm not that much farther down the road from you.
Pat:
Well then, that brings me to my final question. What advice would you give women who want to become certified pilots or are considering a career in aviation? What would you say to them?
Mina:
There's a bunch of schools of thought. I think any young person, even if you're returning to workforce too, because you are eligible to work in the aerospace industry, returning to workforce it's a viable option. Ask the questions. I never asked enough questions, so I didn't know what doors were open. And I will tell you flying is not for everybody, but don't let that be a deterrent. I think there are a lot of opportunities out there now to go take what's called a discovery flight, where you can go up in the pattern or go take a flight for 45 minutes. You go to a lot of the flight schools have those opportunities. You can go. So, if you really think, like man, my eyes on the sky- sky is not the limit, you know go and take a discovery flight first, just to make sure that's something that you're really going to like. Making a heavy investment and then figuring out it's not for you is a tough pill to swallow, in that it does happen to young people still today. I will say, having a pilot, you do have certain medical requirements, so have a plan B just in case. Like, go through the academia, go through the traditional path of like you know the I want to be a pilot. I'm going to do this. I'm going to go to college. I'm going to get my grant absolutely, but get a minor in something that's different, that you have a plan B. Because I think you need to be also realistic about your exit strategy and be reviewing that every five years because we are heavily, heavily reliant on our medical and our support systems. So I think that's something to have a good, heartfelt conversation. Sky's the limit, absolutely, but have some conversations and, you know, throw a dart up in the air. Hey, I want to try that for a little while. Try it, there's so many things to get into an airport management workshop. Try it on. I think that's what I tell everybody. Go and do your shadow, read up on it, watch a YouTube. Those are all viable things. Ask for somebody to come out and talk to you. People in the industry love our industry. Some folks may find it to be a challenge to talk about what they do. We won't call it a no. Just go to the next person. You'll find somebody that loves to talk about. Keep on moving Organizations. This is tooting the Stars horn, just a little bit. We're active organizations. EAA, Experimental Aviation Association. They have local chapters everywhere. I mean Google search aviation organizations in my area, and I guarantee if not more than a handful, a dozen will populate Podcasts. There is a lot of podcasts out there that talk to career education, workforce, aviation industry. This cool plane I just saw, whatever works. And then my last one is if you do choose aviation, aerospace defense, as your industry, to work in, document it, I guarantee your journey will be different from any of your peers and your families. And to have that documentation whether it be journaling pictures, the TikTok videos, however, whatever you're good at your journey will look and smell and feel different because you'll get together with some of your girlfriends shopping coffee, girls' weekends, whatever. And this month in August, I've been in Alaska twice. Well, my girlfriend, they're chicken, stop laying eggs. Our time together was interesting, right, our journeys are completely different and our interests. So then I have a girlfriend that's an optometrist here. She specializes in pediatrics. So in our conversations with her I was on a recent overseas deployment, so we're talking about that and she's like, yeah, I was digging in this kid's eyeball. And she's like what did you see in this deployment? What did you experience? And our journeys are different and I think your journey, if you choose aviation to marry and be in your lifestyle and to be where you want to live and work and play, document it.
Pat: 50:50
Thank you so much, Mina, for joining us today and just sharing your incredible journey. But it's your passion, your joy and your sense of humor, the totality of what you put into it really came out today for us to be inspired by. Oh man, you know I can listen to you for the next two hours. Before we wrap up, I'd like to remind our listeners about the upcoming Girls In Aviation Day event this Saturday, September 23rd, from 10 am to 3 pm at the Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Mina:
Yes, thank you. And registration is still open. You can go and we will allow for walk-ins as well, and it's free. We fundraise for the event to keep it free. That's how we're able to speak to all the demographics, anybody and everybody that wants to go check it out, and we get massive funding to continue on that messaging pathway.
Pat:
Mina, it was a pleasure talking with you. Thank you for taking the time. I think you're a little busy right now, but thank you for joining us.
Mina:
Yeah, thanks, Pat, for taking the time out to talk about this in a timely manner. You know it was tough get us scheduled so we could get this out in time for this Saturday, so I appreciate you looking at that and making a slot available for this.
Pat:
Well, thank you and listeners, If you enjoyed listening to Fill To Capacity today, and frankly I don't know how you could not enjoy this, okay, please subscribe or tell your friends. Thank you and thank you, Natalie Zett, audio engineer. Bye.
Mina Carlson at the controls!
