The Dream of Flying Takes This Pilot on a Winding Road

Despite perceived gender barriers and the fallout from 9/11, this woman's dream of becoming an airline pilot was finally realized—with the help of a shirt.

Pia Bergqvist

Tuesday, January 04, 2022 at 12:26 PM ET

Verified

The author with the CRJ she flies now—in a very similar shirt to the one she wore in the interview for her first airline job. [Courtesy: Pia Bergqvist]

Key Takeaways:

The author faced initial barriers to her dream of flying in Sweden, including a lack of information and the mistaken belief that women couldn't be pilots, a misconception corrected later in the U.S.
She rapidly earned her pilot certificates in California, but her pursuit of an airline career was abruptly halted by the events of September 11, 2001.
Following this setback, she built a successful and fulfilling two-decade career in general aviation, discovering diverse opportunities and forming a strong aviation community.
Nearly 20 years later, she successfully achieved her long-held dream of becoming an airline pilot, now balancing commercial flying with her continued passion for general aviation.

See a mistake? Contact us.

Growing up in Sweden, several decades ago, there were many barriers between me and my dream of flying. While, in hindsight, they were not rational obstacles, they suppressed my ability to reach for what seemed to be an impossible dream.

The biggest barrier—one that I started to breach in the 1990s—was a lack of good information. Without the benefit of computers and the internet, it was hard to figure out how to go about getting a pilot’s certificate. In those days, research was limited to books and tiny microfiche sheets, which I could view through enormous machines at the local library in Karlshamn—my hometown of around 10,000 people.