Beauties Behind the Wheel
Two young women in aeronautics prove they’re more than just a pretty face.
While most young women take up a Tourism course and become flight attendants to see the world, these two young women took the road less traveled. They’d rather wear flats, fold their shirt, wipe their sweat, twist their hair, and stay behind the cockpit and do the dirty work.
Meet Elaine Elago, 23, and Cleo Margaret Brown, 17. Both are beauty and brains and can easily pass as FAs, but chose not to. They’re aeronautics engineers, and they are also vying for the Miss Aviation Philippines title on Feb. 10.
“My dad, even though he’s an aircraft structures engineer, doesn’t want me to take my course. But seeing airplanes makes me happy. This is my passion,” says Elaine, who graduated cum laude at the Far East Air Transport Incorporated (FEATI) University. She says only three women engineers graduated in her batch.
Her job is to propose structure repairs for airplanes. She gives the repair schemes while the mechanics execute her instructions.
“I’ve been to France and Germany for my training. I want to prove that I can excel in this male-dominated industry. When I was still studying, the hardest subject I took was Aircraft Design. You cannot graduate without passing this subject. I designed an acrobatic aircraft for sports,” Elaine says.
Cleo, half Scottish and half Pinay, was influenced by her sister. She’s a freshman student in Asian College of Aeronautics taking up Aviation Electronic Technology. Her course deals with wirings and electricity in the cockpit. She says she’s enjoying her chosen craft.
“We want to prove that we can do it. Aviation and tourism industries are different. We are the people behind whose job is to make sure the aircraft is in good condition,” says Cleo.
This year, more than the prestige, the Miss Aviation Philippines competition takes a deeper meaning as it carries important advocacies: to empower women, to inspire the youth to pursue a career in aviation, and to become an ambassador to bring the tourism and aviation industries together toward more efficient and safer travels.
“From avionics technicians to flight cabin crew, to flight dispatchers, aeronautical engineers, and aviation students, the 23 participating ladies will be future leaders in the industry. And young people can look up to them for inspiration,” says pageant director Morena Carla Cabrera Quimpo.
One of the supporters of the competition is the Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta (PIHABF), one of Asia’s longest-running sports aviation events, that gathers aviators from the local and international scene.
“We are happy to share the same vision with Miss Aviation Philippines 2015. It is no secret that the improvement of the aviation industry also brings about progress in many other sectors, especially tourism and the local economy, and we hope to deepen this awareness through the pageant,” says PIHABF event director Capt. Joy Roa.
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