Jam PressIt’s always nice to follow in a parent’s footsteps, but two family members from the US made history when they became the first mother-daughter duo to pilot a commercial passenger plane together.
Captain Suzy Garrett has been flying planes for more than 30 years, and during her career previously made headlines by becoming one of the first women hired by SkyWest Airlines.
Suzy’s husband, Doug, is also a pilot, and the couple passed their passion on to their two children, Mark and Donna.
After being ‘exposed to aviation [her] whole life’, 26-year-old Donna was also hired to work for SkyWest, giving her and her mum the chance to share the cockpit of a commercial passenger plane.
In an interview on the SkyWest Airlines blog, Suzy explained that her kids weren’t thinking about becoming pilots until they started ‘looking at other careers that are out there, sitting in an office, and then see[ing] how happy we are’.
The mother believes her and her husband’s work ‘opened [their children’s] eyes’, and she has explained that she is ‘super grateful’ for a job with ‘work schedule flexibility’.
She added:
What better career is out there where you can make this kind of money and not have to have high stress by taking your work home with you? Scheduling is a big reason why I’ve stayed with SkyWest.
It was great when the kids were growing up. I could volunteer for field trips, parties at school and be that mom, while also having this wonderful career!
Donna confirmed that it was her parents’ ‘passion and love for flying’ that made her want to follow in their footsteps, saying Suzy and Doug ‘made it sound so much fun’.
