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Roger Metro Tower, podcast 009 is rolling. Okay, we are here today with Elena Rydemar, pilot at Delta Airlines. Welcome, Elena. Thank you, thank you very much.
And in addition to being a pilot at Delta, which is an awesome thing in and of itself, you were recently the first female pilot to receive Elpa's highest honor, the Air Safety Award. Yeah, yep. And I heard from some of the other lady pilots online that you just gave an awesome acceptance speech. So I've listened to that and we are going to play it later as part of this podcast.
But before we get to that, if you could just give me a little bit about your background, how you got started in flying and progressed to where you are today. Sure, well as I said, it's a lengthy story, I guess. Always wanted to buy some early childhood in fact, women don't become male and pilot. You become flight attendant.
That's the most general message. And that was okay for a few years until my brother and I on a flight got in, it was at night and there was lights on the ground and stars in the hear. And then there was never any turning back. That was in the sense that once you know from where you want to go, it's a straight goal with a flying degree, first real flying job though in Florida and in my hand.
I like to get some of that too. Yeah, it's funny, really good. You pretty much go anywhere. You got a call from a great length for a few years.
Not before giving up completely on the idea of military flying because that was my initial goal. I wanted to fly five. It might have at one point. That's why I went to military route because you know, you're foot in the door as far as years, why in time of paper is I got this job.
Sometimes I look back, either way choice, but you know, sometimes. Oh, sure, we can always wonder about that path not taken. Sorry, you're so easy. As I listen to your story, I'm sitting here going, gosh, what a difference a decade makes because I was already in my 20s in the 70s.
And I thought about trying to build time through military because I absolutely had no money. And when I went to them, they said, well, there are no female pilots in the military. You could join and maybe you could fight your way in from the inside. I said, okay, so what could I do?
Well, you could join the paratroopers. Oh, that sounds wonderful. That'd be a blast. But the only thing is you'll go through all through paratrooper school and you'll make your however many jumps they made to be certified, but then you won't be jumping anymore because you're not allowed in a war zone.
I said, well, what would I be doing? Packing shoots. So needless to say, I didn't go the military route either. Yeah, you know, that's so depressing.
Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. Yeah, so anyway, I spent about three years at Great Lakes and I Asian for type rating at Northwest and in 1990, while flying, which I won't. So we...
It is. And I'm glad to bring that up because there are a lot of young ladies considering this field out there and they need to know that it just takes extreme dedication or young men either way. And I also like that you mentioned the scholarship, the Women in Aviation Scholarship. I have interviewed several organizations recently that provide scholarships for young ladies trying to get into aviation.
And it's awesome that they're out there and I didn't know to go looking for them when I started. So I'm glad to try it out. Yeah, and there, you know, every time I turn around, there's more available women in aviation. I mean, they have this amazing catalog of different scholarships that are, you know, sometimes they don't even have enough applicants for them.
So it's an untapped resource. And with flying being so expensive and so difficult to get loans, if you can get scholarships, oh my gosh. It gave me the N I needed to get to Northwest Airlines. Yeah, I got hired at North, for South, for 10 years, so that was really interesting.
And that PhD in human factors is what, in part, led you to this award you recently received. Well, somewhat, you know, it's my PhD studies have not been the sound of psychology, cognitive psychology, the area itself is safety engineering and all of my research. In fact, at North Wayne, the Northwest, Alba, human-factor time in this, Women in Aviation as well. That's amazing, that's awesome.
Well, it's been a long run. I started doing Alba work back in 2015 very slowly. Here's, you know, as different projects have, collectors has not been designed to human-factor, you know, to them. I'm sure it is.
So, and a lot of what you did specifically to earn this award will be in the intro to your speech and your speech as well, which we're going to be playing here shortly, speech. So we're going to play that now. And then we'll chat for a couple of minutes after. So here is the presentation of the Alba Air Safety Award to Helena Rademan.
This evening, I have the privilege of recognizing First Officer, Helena Rhemaier, for her extraordinary conscience and safety of the Air Transfer. I really should call her Dr. Rhemaier, because in addition to her masters from every role in Aeronautical Science, she earned a PhD in human factors and now serves as a graduate faculty at the University of Central Missouri. First Officer Rhemaier serves as Alba's director of human factors within the Air Safety Organization.
Her efforts have resulted in her establishing an international following. No, I'm not kidding, an international following. In 2014, she was named a Fellow by the London Headquarter Royal Aeronautics Society for her extensive work within the aviation human factors community. She's been asked to speak to groups around the world, including the Caribbean South American Pilots Association.
First Officer Rhemaier works up here in publications like Arrow Safety World, and she maintains close ties with human factors experts at NASA Ames. While First Officer Rhemaier has performed a variety of functions within Alba's safety structure over years, she particularly distangles herself in 2014 by co-sharing the groundbreaking effort to enhance flight path monitoring throughout our industry. Her contributions culminated in a flight safety foundation sponsored product entitled A Practical Guide for Improving Flight Path Monitoring. Now the benchmark for airlines seeking to improve pilot monitoring skills among their pilots.
Alana is also the first female airline pilot to receive the association's highest safety honor. A professional, a true Alba leader, it gives me great pleasure to present this award to Dr. Alana Rhemaier. The award reads 2014 Air Safety Award to First Officer Alana and Rhemaier Delta Airlines for your significant contributions to aviation safety and dedication to the discipline of human factors in creating the training standard for airline pilots worldwide.
And special recognition of our groundbreaking work in a practical guide for improving flight path monitoring. Congratulations. Thank you very much. I'm deeply honored and grateful.
And I feel like I'm really receiving this on behalf of so many people because I've done nothing alone. It's always been teamwork and collaboration. And it's really important to recognize my leadership for all of the amazing support, the Alba staff, and all of the committee members that I've been working with. And of course, the center of my world right now.
So just over 16 years ago, I was flying a TC9 trip with Dennis Landry. And we started talking about safety. And it came out that I had a human factors back. So we landed in Minneapolis.
And he immediately brought me over to Lindsay Fennock. And I started out slow for 16. So that year, I lost my best friend's staff. Finding Alba safety work at that time in my life was so incredibly neat.
So my story really wouldn't be complete with that accident. It's really part of we were flight instructors at the same place and we were best friends in groups. Can't really describe the loss through the safety work. It allowed me to use my special skillset to contribute to safer flying in some space.
Five years later, unfortunately, the very friend, Jesse, who helped me through that loss in that grief, died in a dream. Every day, I strive to use that grief as a driver in my work and to use it for a positive. I've been so fortunate to follow in the footsteps of Lindsay Fennock, or Robert Somalt. These gentlemen are shaped away.
And Seoul and the integrity of these conferences and working groups and committees and tele-convercences. He, thankfully, to Abu Dhabi to see me speak last year. And he actually bought a ticket. So you know what I'm saying, I'm fine with it.
Because the flights were full. He said, Coach, 17 hours each week. That's true love and I'm conditioned. I've been doing all the safety work longer than my daughters been alive.
I assure you, she probably knows more about human factors and safety work than most people outside of this room. Because of Bluetooth in my car over the speaker. She's absorbed an amazing amount of information. She knows many of you simply through voice recognition, first and last names.
And frankly, she's not where she loves your name. So this work takes time away from your home and family. Much like our full-time jobs. But I want to talk about the right side of that room.
So we try to leave my example. And we raise our kids much the same way. And most of us too, safety work with a passion. And I want to give my daughter that understanding and that knowledge and I encourage to follow her passion.
The other part is service. If you have the ability to contribute, I think it's really important to do that. And show my example and give back and pay it forward. And through this work, we all teach our children these important life lessons every day.
And we can also inspire our peers to contribute. I'm frequently inspired by the gentleman I work in moral and ethical kind of, and Chuck O'mane, who is really in safety advocate for us throughout the industry. Our safety structure is so proud to work with. And who sees an encouragement, their dedication and generosity.
That Steve Jengel is studying in the contributions I see every time I fly. I can say that you're all mine talking about the thing. But they only give me five minutes. Suffice it to say we're making a difference.
And more than just giving back, I think the work with you is really meaningful and essential to the industry. We're not doctors, touching one body at a time. Our work touches thousands of people every day. So we work to make our industry better, safer, we save lives.
And yes, we're unions, so we're pilot advocates. But in safety, we do more than that. We're safety advocates and that transcends everything else. So we learn from the accidents we investigate, and the accidents result in changes that makes flying safer.
They do not die in vain, and we learn that we still safer and better through the work we do. Our work can't be quantified in the number of lives saved, or the accidents presented. But if you look at accidents statistics, you can conclude that we're making a difference. Safety is winning, and you're all heroes.
Thank you, Humly, for this incredible recognition. I'd like to ask my daughter to come up here. One of the things I noticed as we listen to the speech was your commitment to your family. It seemed so important to you to set the example for your daughter to have a true passion for her work.
Yeah, yeah, it's funny that speech would for me to write. I read on a trip about 10 days prior to giving it. All my speeches in the past have been focused on science or research or recommendations. It's something along those lines to write a person down this road to how I got here in the baby.
I mean, first of all, I don't often having my daughter and to give her those really life lessons too. That's not traditional. He says I wanted her to underwork almost around the clock sometimes, and I'm involved. And they take a lot of time to hear me on the phone and personal level with people surprising to me, though.
Well, it was resonated so well because obviously it came from the depths of your heart and soul. Thank you very much for spending the time with me today. Thank you. Thank you very much.
I appreciate the opportunity.