Women in Aviation Careers

Engineers usually have a variety of duties beyond just maintenance that include ground crew & fueling operations both on base and at remote locations. AMEs require training & certification, see a short list of schools below.  A few years down the road, an experienced engineer with great organizing & people skills may progress into positions such as supply managers, quality assurance managers, director of maintenance (DOM).

Engineers on occasion expand their skills by going to flight school and obtaining their pilot license.

The primary duty of a dispatcher is flight following (tracking locations of aircraft) as per company procedures. Other duties usually involve travel itineraries & safety for crews in the air and on the road. Involvement in travel arrangements of crews as well as other support duties.  

Requires detail oriented skills to maintain the maintenance service records of every aircraft and  support equipment.

Tracking parts and supplies that are in stock or needed for maintenance & overhauls.  Aviation parts require tracking of where it was purchased & certified for use. Some parts and supplies also have expiry/recertification dates that must be tracked. Companies that have multiple bases often ship the parts out to where a helicopter will be located for maintenance.

Assistants to one or more managers with a sundry of duties including editing operations manuals, tracking training records and safety related items in custom software & spreadsheets.

Accountants of varying skills for payables, receivables, payroll and financial reporting. Some larger companies also have a separate human resources (HR) department.

Safety officers, quality assurance (QA) managers.  Specialized knowledge in aviation regulations, detailed skills in communication, processing paperwork with deadlines, safety auditing & reporting.

Experienced pilots a few years down the road may also progress into careers such as base managers, training pilots, chief pilot, director of operations.