HIGH FLYERS

Brief biographies of female pilots and astronauts to encourage young would-be aviators.

Glossy minibiographies describe the childhoods and professional trajectories of women working in careers such as pilot, astronaut, balloonist, and businessperson. Though some are famous (Sen. Tammy Duckworth, for example, and all of the astronauts) and some are groundbreaking (such as Puerto Rican Olga Custodio, who was the U.S. Air Force’s first Latina military pilot), others are everyday women who chose cool jobs. There’s Brooke Roman, a pilot for an oil company in Alaska, and Edgora McEwan, a hot air balloon pilot from Uzbekistan who works in the United Arab Emirates. Other than McEwan and Samantha Cristoforetti, the first Italian woman astronaut, the subjects are American, and the majority are military, a career path that is presented positively. A passion for aircraft permeates the whole, and the strongest of the sidebars delve into the mechanics of aircraft. The women of color (comprising about half the subjects) are almost invariably identified by race, while the White women are not, situating Whiteness as a default. Some achievements are presented as notable firsts, though most of the sexism and racism the women have experienced are sanitized and situated firmly in the past. Despite some awkward turns of phrase, this is an accessible volume highlighting women in fields where they remain underrepresented.

A collective biography showing flight careers as normal, exciting, and attainable.