MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — One woman wants to defeat the odds and pursue a career in aviation, and a new program at the Baldwin County Regional Airport is helping her dreams take flight.
If you happen to see a loud, orange plane in the sky, you're probably underneath 44-year-old Nicole Bodie and her flight instructor Sherwin Jen.
"The first time I was so nervous, because you have to learn," said Bodie.
"It's kind of amazing that you are teaching someone with zero experience and at the end of the day, they are flying pretty much how I fly," said Jen.
It all started last year when Bodie's daughter was stuck in Barcelona while studying abroad due to COVID-19.
Feeling helpless, Bodie says she decided to learn how to fly at Baldwin County's Regional Airport.
"We were trying to figure out how to get her back to the states safely. That's when I enrolled," said Bodie. "It just feels so empowering, like I got to keep going. I know so little, which means I got to know more."
Baldwin County Regional Airport owner Bruce Hood started the program in partnership with Sinclair Aviation and Faithful Guardian School. The goal was inspiring women tp make a career out of aviation.
"We started the program looking for flight schools to attract women into flying, because we realize the industry was a little top heavy with the men," said Hood.
According to Women in Aviation International, just 6% of licensed pilots are women. Bodie says this didn't intimidate her.
"It even gave me more of a determined mindset," she said.
She wants to become a licensed instructor herself and one day own her own plane. Bodie is one of 17 in the program, but only one of five women and one of two moms.
For information about the program, go to Baldwin County Regional Airport's homepage.
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