Only 6% of pilots in the U.S. are female. The number of female pilots is growing, but very slowly. It grew by just 1% in the past 10 years. At the end of 2017, 12.9% of FAA student pilots were female. United Airlines has the most female pilots out of any other airline at 7.4%. By comparison, about 75% of all flight attendants are female. The gender gap in aviation is so wide you could fly a plane through it. And that plane is probably flown by a man.
Delta has been making major strides in "closing the gender gap in aviation," thanks in part to its WING program. The program, which started in 2015, is an "effort to diversify a male-dominated industry and expose girls to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers at a young age." So far, it's flown over 600 female students, exposing them to a side of aviation they wouldn't ordinarily get to see.
This International Girls in Aviation Day, Delta completed its fifth annual all-female WING Flight. 120 female students between the ages of 12 and 18 were shown that aviation doesn't have to be a boy's club anymore. The entire flight was "planned and orchestrated exclusively by women." The flight crew was all women. The gate agents were all women. The ramp agents were all women. Even the flight control was, you guessed it, all women.
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The students flew from Salt Lake City to Houston to visit NASA. While at NASA, the students met with female movers and shakers in the aviation and engineering industry, including NASA astronaut and aerospace engineer Jeanette Epps. They also toured NASA buildings, learning about flight and space exploration.
The all-female flight helped the students realize their dreams are possible, regardless of their gender. "It didn't seem realistic to go after a career in aviation, but today I realized, 'Hey, I can do this too,'" Katelyn, a 17-year-old participant, said. "I never would have thought I would have had this experience. I'm really grateful for my parents who have made this possible and inspired my love of aviation," Karyanna, another participant, said. "It's such an exciting time to be in STEM. There's so much left for us to discover."
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But the flight didn't just inspire the students. It also inspired the women who currently work in aviation. "I am inspired by this next generation," Captain Kimberly Gibson told AOL Finance. "I think that there are more and more girls these days that understand that the world is an open door. I think this is one of the best things Delta can do to put themselves out there, to put our airline out there and to grow the next generation of pilots."
By encouraging students to pursue aviation, Delta is helping to create a future generation of pilots. "We know representation matters. At Delta, we believe you have to see it to be it," Beth Poole, General Manager of Pilot Development at Delta, said. Poole also helped start Delta's WING Flight. "We're taking ownership to improve gender diversity by exposing girls at a young age and providing a pipeline so that 10 years from now, they will be the pilots in the Delta cockpit inspiring generations of women who follow." Currently, 5% of Delta's pilots are women, but in the past four years, 7.4% of new pilot hires have been women. Delta also has achieved 100% pay parity for employees, something which is lacking in the aviation industry.
Hopefully, in the future, it'll be a lot more common to hear a female voice telling you they're preparing for landing when you're on a plane.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.