L3 pledges $150K in scholarships for women

Two candidates will receive up to $25,000 and eight will be eligible for up to $12,500. The funds are for attending the company’s Professional Pilot Program in Sanford, Florida.

Female pilots currently make up about 7 percent of all certificated pilots, a meager 1-percent increase over the last 10 years. The statistics equate to the percentage of female truck drivers and lag far behind other professional endeavors women have embraced, including law (38 percent), pharmacy (38 percent), and veterinary medicine (59 percent), according to a fact sheet published by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Robert Luthy, the director of L3’s Airline Academy in Florida, stressed that more diversity was “crucial” to growing the overall professional pilot community in the face of a worldwide pilot shortage. He noted that the company hoped to “build a more inclusive future for the industry around the world.”

The initiative was announced during Women in Aviation International’s thirtieth annual conference in Long Beach, California, March 14 to 16.