I'm curious to know how many of you are pilots.  I ask because there seems to be some evidence that this is a common career field for many transgender women.  My experience is limited however, so I'd like to expand my sample group.  I am a member of a trans group based in central Pennsylvania, they happen to be the same group that sponsors the Keystone Conference.  Anyway, we have an informal group of girls, a subgroup of regulars that attend the Keystone Conference regularly, that we call the "Fly-Girls."  It happens to be a large group and all of us who are members get the impression that pilot careers seem to be very numerous among trans women.  I'm just wondering if this is an anomaly unique to our group, or is it common in a larger sample of trans women.

Hugs,

Sally

I am a former military pilot.  Very "former", in that my flying career was over before I even suspected that I was trans.

Still, it does seem to be a trend that technological career fields attract trans people, even those who are not yet aware of being trans.  Every second trans woman seems to be in IT or engineering.  (My second career was IT.)  Aviation is another technological field, so your observation is likely true. 

Certainly, there are quite a few of us here.  If you haven't already done so, check out the Aviation thread

I was once halfway to my private license, but never really wanted to make a career of flying.

I'm currently pursuing a new career in nursing and loving it. I was in a female dominated profession before, but I never connected being transgender with my career choices. Just what my passions dictate. I would not want to fly on an airplane where I was the pilot, even with training.   

I've noted careers for trans women also seem to include tram/trolley drivers and commuter rail drivers.

Lisa

Quote from: sally0196 on December 19, 2018, 04:44:37 PM
I'm curious to know how many of you are pilots.

          In the late sixties, my father's closest pilot friend & co-worker turned out to be an MtF transexual and was eventually forced to resign. Parents hid it from us kids well and didn't learn about George becoming "Georgette" until much later. Perhaps that early experience and awareness played into his eventual acceptance of me?

Never learned to fly like older brother did I chose to drive only beautiful trucks instead but, either way, one wasn't home much. 

I know of one commercial airline pilot working at Qantas:

http://www.andrewiguy.com/2012/02/one-of-reasons-i-always-chose-to-fly.html

There is also Jessica Taylor.

https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2015/09/11/trailblazing-trans-pilot-jessica-taylor-pushes-for-equality/

Another very common career choice is the software/computer industry.

So, yes, there are nicely documented cases of commercial pilots.

The only time you'll get me on a plane is with a horse tranquilizer or a lot of whiskey.

I would probably feel slightly better about piloting a tin can rather than sitting in back with no control or knowledge of the aircraft's situation. A seat with a parachute nearby might help too. Not being in control in dangerous situations is the kicker. I'm usually quite fearless so long as I am guiding whatever I'm doing.

Test pilot, though? No way. Not for all the tea thrown overboard in 1776.

I'll be flying back to Virginia tomorrow but I'm no pilot. I am flying in one of those air greyhounds using the united airlines logo.

I'm a software engineer. I program drivers for use on AV systems and I used to commission them for corporate and government contracts.

Quote from: sally0196 on December 19, 2018, 04:44:37 PM
I'm curious to know how many of you are pilots. 

I was never a commercial pilot, but am an instrument rated private pilot with about 1000 hours logged.

I owned a single engine Cessna for 13 years.  Sold it to get a sports car.

I'm an editor for TV and film and definitely not a pilot. Can't say I've ever met another one of me.

I grew up near LAX and I wanted to be a pilot, but that ended when I got booted out of Air Force ROTC for sleepwalking and failed differential equations.  So I changed my major from Aerospace engineering to history and went to law school instead.

Are there "more" MtF transgender people in technology careers (pilots, IT etc.) because those areas tend to be male dominated??  i.e. Were many of us in technology based careers and then transitioned making it seem like trans MtF's tend to chose or go into those careers? 

Quote from: BrianaJ on December 27, 2018, 08:59:32 AMmaking
. . . it seem like trans MtF's tend to chose or go into those careers?

       Perhaps! After 30 years I've given up on "aviation" (and "trucking") and am returning to my first passion which is machine learning and "AI". But whether I survive the linear algebra equations in "Octave" and Google's muli-dimensional "Tensor" yet remains to be seen!

Well I look back on my choices now and if I do it all over again maybe I would choose to be a Pilot, perhaps a Helicopter Pilot. However I chose to be in a male dominated/super masculine field of work, I think it was a way of hiding from my gender issues. In recent years several women have worked hard to get in their certification in the industry. I do not know   of any other transgendered people in the mountain community I am into. I am still not out with my status yet but maybe in a year or so. I am a International certified Mountain Guide, with that I have spent a couple of thousand hours in helicopters and have flown several of the helicopters as well. Early in my youth, with a friend I flew small planes in and around in the mountains.  Geez this is an interesting question.. and thank you for asking @Sally0196.
Liina

I am a certified residential real estate appraiser. I have not run across any other MTF of FTM appraisers. I enjoy my work and my clients trust my work.

I'm a special needs Teacher. Haven't run into many trans Teachers in the four years I've been teaching officially or the 10 years before in Kindergartens. I love spending time with younger kids (3-5 years old) and feel very fulfilled when I am doing so. I've always felt drawn to fields that involve helping people especially children. I also have two kids of my own. Guess I'm just meant to look after kids...

I haven't been active on this board for awhile, but I recently started flying professionally. I reached out to another trans aviator to navigate the complexities of transitioning in this field. I found out there are about a couple hundred trans pilots flying for US airlines. Alas, if I do transition (company politics may preclude transition), I'd be the only one at my airline.

Quote from: KathyLauren on December 19, 2018, 04:57:05 PM
Every second trans woman seems to be in IT or engineering

I'm a second woman as am in IT and my father was a pilot   

Quote from: BrianaJ on December 27, 2018, 08:59:32 AM
Are there "more" MtF transgender people in technology careers (pilots, IT etc.) because those areas tend to be male dominated??  i.e. Were many of us in technology based careers and then transitioned making it seem like trans MtF's tend to chose or go into those careers?

Being in IT was a natural choice for me. I was always interested in technical stuff and computers and I could do tinkering alone which comes in handy when someone doesn't have a lot of friends to play with. And then I discovered games where I could be anything I want, and a lot of hours went down the drain playing games with female characters. It was a great escape from reality and when not playing, solving challenging computer issues was also a great way to take my mind off things like my gender issues.
In the end being interested in technical things caused me to question myself even more because around here there were not a lot of girls who were interested in this kind of stuff but I don't let that bother me anymore.