By akademiotoelektronik, 22/10/2022

There is none in Belgium: Sandrine, 23, wants to become a air force pilot / a woman at the controls

On the bus that transports her inside the Florennes military base, Sandrine Bastogne is the only woman.All the others registered for this day of discovery of the profession of fighter pilot are boys.""""""""A few years ago, I was still lacking in self -confidence, I would never have dared to land like that in such a male environment.But I have matured and I feel ready.""""""""

The 23 -year -old has already obtained a pilot license for small planes. """"""""L’envie de voler a démarré quand j’avais 11 ans, dans un stage de parapente.The dad of a friend is a line pilot.And when I heard him talk about her job, I said to myself: that's what I want to do.""""""""

But fighter pilot, it is even something other than line pilot. """"""""Si je peux allier ma passion avec une mission de défense du pays, c’est encore mieux.""""""""Sandrine knows, however, that there is far from the lip cup, from dream to reality.But she starts to believe it. """"""""J’ai passé les premiers tests médicaux hier, et je commence à préparer l’examen d’entrée prévu au mois de juin.This morning again, I revised math.

Not a single woman hunting pilot currently in Belgium

Currently, out of the hundred hunting pilots in the Belgian army, there is not a single woman. """"""""Ce n’est pas une question d’aptitude, estime le commandant de la base de Florennes, Philippe Goffin.Women are as capable of men to pilot a fighter plane.It’s a vocation problem.Very few women try their luck.""""""""

No doubt because of an accumulation of cultural barriers that distance girls: math, science, technique and especially the army where only 10% of recruits are women.

Sandrine, in any case, has taken the first step: she signed up.The hardest part is ahead of it: pass the very demanding medical tests to become fighter pilot, pass the entrance exam in June and follow the three -year training proposed by the Air Force.