CAE have named UK pilot Elle Betchley as the fifteenth CAE Women in Flight Ambassador. The CAE Women in Flight Ambassador Programme aims to encourage girls and women to raise awareness of the opportunities for women to follow professional pilot careers. Elle is currently training on the CAE Generation easyJet Pilot Training Programme. She has just completed her ATPL ground school at CAE’s London Gatwick training centre and is about to start basic flight training. As a CAE Women in Flight Ambassador, Elle will receive a full scholarship worth more than €100,000 to complete her training.
Initially trained as an agronomist, Elle pursued a career in agriculture for the last seven years. Her inspiration to become a pilot came from her husband, who trained on the CAE Generation easyJet Pilot Training Programme. However, Elle says that she wanted to do much more than fly: “I wanted to become a CAE Women in Flight Ambassador from the day I applied for pilot training at CAE. This is not just about inspiring women; it’s about changing how people think. Being a CAE Women in Flight Ambassador will allow me to show young women what is achievable and shape the future of the aviation industry’s workforce.”
Selection of the Women in Flight Ambassador is a rigorous process that requires multi-layered applications, written tests, video interviews, with input from Women in Aviation International, and the airline.
CAE launched the CAE Women in Flight programme in 2018 to encourage women to pursue a career in aviation and expanded it in July 2022 to grow the movement by forging partnerships with more airline customers. Initially, the programme was limited to candidates enrolled in one of CAE’s airline-sponsored cadet training programmes. However, with the programme’s evolution, CAE now matches existing airline scholarships. CAE is partnering with airline customers globally to provide partially funded and fully funded pilot training scholarships to deserving women who also become programme ambassadors who inform and inspire other women to become pilots.
FTN caught-up with Elle after the announcement of her appointment and asked her first why she wanted to become a pilot? Elle said that her Mum owns travel business, and so she has travelled extensively, but Elle herself never thought about flying until she met her now-husband who was determined to become a professional pilot. She became fascinated with flying and when her passion for aviation overtook her passion for her previous career, she knew it was time to become a pilot. In the meantime, her husband qualified in March of this year and is now flying for easyJet.
Elle started her easyJet MPL course with CAE in September 2023 and has just finished the ground school element of the course with an overall pass mark of 96.6%. She singled-out General Navigation as the toughest subject, but heaped praise on her Theoretical Knowledge instructors at CAE Gatwick who helped her to pass the exam with a 95% mark. She is now on the way to Malaga for basic flight training which will last five – six months to fly approximately 100 hours in single engine piston aircraft. Then in May next year she will go back to Gatwick, or to Milan, for the simulator phase of the MPL.
Elle put herself forward for to become a Women in Flight Ambassador because coming from the agricultural industry, which is also male-dominated, the programme was something to which she could offer energy and ideas. She helped young females coming into agriculture in her previous role and she now wants to help others in aviation by standing up and telling her story.
Asked by FTN what airlines and the aviation industry need to do to attract more female pilots, she said that there is a need for more programmes like CAE’s ‘Women in Flight Ambassador’. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” she told FTN: “It’s just about making females visible and having people like myself tell their story and say ‘you can do it, be brave, go for it’.” On the subject of whether the aviation industry is changing for the better in terms of inclusion, Elle said: “There are so many initiatives and people are so aware now of making sure that there is inclusion…I’m seeing in the classes below me more females coming in – and it would be nice to see more! I like to think that we’re moving in a positive direction.”
Marie-Christine Cloutier, CAE’s Vice-President, Strategy, Performance, and Marketing – Civil, added: “Women make up only between four and six percent of professional pilots worldwide, and as CAE’s 2023 aviation talent forecast shows that some 300,000 new pilots are needed by 2032, we want to help attract more women to join the profession. Through shining role models like Elle, we believe we can truly influence the next generation.”
CAE expect that between now and 2032, up to half the existing pilot population will retire, creating a huge demand for new pilots. A spokesperson told FTN that CAE believe that to reach the numbers of new pilots needed, the industry will have to start opening up and figuring out how to reach under-represented groups. CAE are looking at the Indian pilot market, where female pilots make-up far more than the global 6% average, to see if there are lessons to be learnt there.
CAE will train up to 200 easyJet pilots annually through to 2028. As an ambassador, Elle’s responsibilities include encouraging women to pursue an aviation career. The programme aims to achieve much more than supporting future female pilots according to CAE; it is also focused on developing a network of like-minded ambassadors and professionals who illustrate that diversity in aviation should be the norm, not the exception.
The final word (for now) goes to Elle. As part of her role she has committed to visiting schools, and talking to cadets and other young people to tell her story. She told FTN: “The ultimate goal is to become a Captain and be visible, be seen and help more women”.
