Female pilots, even in 2019, only account for an estimated 4.4 percent of commercial pilots in the U.S. and the […]
Female pilots, even in 2019, only account for an estimated 4.4 percent of commercial pilots in the U.S. and the U.K., according to the Centre for Aviation, which means that aviation still remains a male-dominated space.
Well, it was only recently when aviation history was made when the first mother-daughter duo was piloting Delta Boeing 757 flight.
Captain Wendy Rexon and her first-officer daughter, Kelly Rexon, are the first mother and daughter pair in history to pilot a commercial flight together. As it ends up, flying is a family business when it comes to the Rexons. Wendy and her two daughter are airline pilots along with Wendy’s husband, who is a pilot for American Airlines.
“We would run around in [our parent’s] captain hats and have fun as little kids and go on their trips with them,” Kelly reminisced to ABC News.
“It was definitely part of the family business. I started flying when I was 16, and I had the pleasure of being [my younger sister’s] instructor and she was my first student.”
Wendy and daughter, Kelly Rexon, first flew together on a flight out of New York’s JFK airport. Their first flight proved eventful as the pair was confronted with smokes and fumes in the cockpit.
Despite unforeseen complications, the women landed the flight safely in Los Angeles in what would be Wendy’s first time witnessing her daughter handle an emergency landing.
Wendy recalled that her daughter was fantastic, and even though they had a bit of trouble, it was all made easier because of training and because of her daughter’s competence.