Theresa Claiborne: I joined ROTC, which is Reserve Officer Training Corps. Went to a six-week training camp and during this six-week training camp, we got an incentive rides. And we got a flight on a T37. That was all she wrote. As soon as I had that flight, I just decided I'm not going to be anybody's public affairs officer. I'm going to be a pilot.

Terria Garner: That is retired Commercial Airline Captain Theresa Claiborne; the first African-American female pilot in the United States Air Force. 

Lucy Jabbour: She is also a co-founder and President of the nonprofit organization, Sisters of the Skies.

Terria Garner: I’m Terria Garner. 

Lucy Jabbour: And I’m Lucy Jabbour and this is ‘The Air Up There’!

Various People: This is your captain speaking. The feeling I get when I’m flying is just; you get an adrenaline rush. Seeing something fly is awesome. As soon as I had that flight, I just decided. Flying airplanes is all I’ve ever wanted to do. I get so excited about aviation, aeronautics, space, math, and science and engineering. Like star gazing and just wondering what it would be like to be up there. There is a space for you. There’s a lot of camaraderie. The support from the people. The air traffic controllers. There's so much freedom. I fell in love with it. I developed a passion for it. Just know you can do it. There’s certainly a place for everybody in aerospace.

Terria Garner: So, you have such a storied career. A ton of accomplishments. For you, what's one of your most-proudest accomplishments that you've achieved?

Theresa Claiborne: Um actually, you know what, graduating and getting my coveted silver wings. Everybody doesn’t make it. I was the first black woman pilot in the Air Force. So, there was no one that looked like me during pilot training that was in my class. When we got to pilot training, there were 70 of us in my class. We're all sitting there in the auditorium and we're getting our briefing. And they said, look to your left, look to the right and they said one of you is not going to be here when this is all over with. So, they're saying it's a 30% washout rate? Honestly, that's about what it was. So, I was just incredibly proud of myself for graduating.

Terria Garner: Did you know that you were going to be the first Black woman pilot to graduate from pilot training or, you know, be the first for the US Air Force? Did you know any of that? 

23:13
Theresa Claiborne: I did not. So, this is back in 1982. We didn't have cell phones back then. We didn't have, we didn't have the Google. And so, two weeks prior to graduation, a friend of mine he reaches out to me and says, Theresa, you're the first and I said the first what? He goes, you're the first Black woman pilot? I'm like, no, you know, can't be. He goes, no, he goes, I think you really are. He goes, I kind of did some searching and I asked him questions. You're the first. Go to your public affairs office and ask them and I did and lo and behold, I was. So, you know, I look back on that time now and I'm very, very happy I did not know throughout the entire pilot training. It would have just been too much pressure. I was just 21 years old. That's a lot. You're still a very young person at that point. And I think that that pressure would have been just way too much for me to bear. So, I'm glad I didn't find out till the end.

Lucy Jabbour: What made you decide to pursue aviation? 

Theresa Claiborne: I had decided I was going to go in the Air Force and my degree was in media communications and a minor in journalism. So, I remember going home and telling my folks, oh, I'm gonna go in the military. My dad was like, what? And I said, what's, what... Why are you like... ? He said, well, because you don't know how to take orders. And I said, it's okay, Dad. I'm gonna be an officer. I'll be giving the orders. So, I joined ROTC, which is Reserve Officer Training Corps. And I had two years left in college. I went to a six-week training camp and during this six-week training camp, we got an incentive rides. And we got a flight on a T37. That was all she wrote. As soon as I had that flight, I just decided I'm not going to be anybody's public affairs officer. I'm going to be a pilot. Got back from pilot training and my commander said, you know, I'm looking at your report, and the Air Force likes you. How do you feel about the Air Force? And I said, I love it. I love it. He goes, what do you want to do? And I said, I want to be a pilot, of course. And he said, oh, sorry, can't do it. They've already given out the 10 slots for the year. Back then, it was in the infancy of letting women fly again. You know, we'd had women flying back in World War II, they were called WASPs during war time, and then there was like this big hiatus where we just didn't train women to be pilots. But they started to train women again, and they were giving out 10 slots a year, and that was for the entire nation. And I said okay, well, I'll be a public affairs officer and about halfway through my junior year, they said, you know what the women are doing, okay. Their washout rate and their success rate is about the same as the guys. So, we're going to increase it from 10 to 30 and I was blessed to have gotten a pilot slot. Right place right time.

Terria Garner: Yes. That's amazing. So, were there any challenges along the way and how did you overcome them?

Theresa Claiborne: When I got to around the seventh grade. I started all of a sudden not being that great in math. And so, algebra was tough, and I liked science, but it was just okay. My teacher said to me, don't worry about it, Theresa, you're really good at English. You can express yourself. You're okay. Well, you know, I'm 65. So, back in the day, there was no such acronym as STEM. We didn't talk about it like that. I did not apply myself because she said I didn't have to. So, when I got to college, I said, what do I have to have for math and science? They said, you have to have algebra and you have to have a lab science. So, I took algebra and I took biology with a lab and that was it. Now fast forward, I show up at pilot training. Instructors at the board writing down a formula on the board, and says, yep, I know all you guys recognize this. And I'm like, what is that? I didn't know what it was. So, needless to say, while my friends were out having a good time for the weekends, I was in my dorm room studying. I made it happen, but it was difficult. That's why I impress upon young people, you may have an inkling of what you want to be. But the majority of us don't really know. Right? You just don't know. So, have a well-rounded background. Be good in all the subjects. Apply yourself.

Terria Garner: You were a mass communications and journalism major. How do you think that, that level of study applied to the aerospace industry in your time as a pilot?

Theresa Claiborne: You know what funny story. I'm in pilot training in the primary trainer and, we had little things that we would sing to ourselves as we're getting ready to roll in for a landing. I’ll never forget handles horns, pitch, pitch, lights, so you know that the gears coming down. You set the power and then set the pitch. Okay, I'm gonna start going down. It's time to roll off the perch and go in for landing. And I'll never forget, we get back from a flight one day and the guys are sitting there. And my instructor says, you know, Theresa, if you could just fly as good as you can talk on the radio. I mean, honestly. So, look, I knew my call outs. I knew what to say on the radio. I just wasn't as good putting all those pieces together. There were other people that you'd hear him out on the radio and you'd laugh, because they didn't know what to say. They didn't know how to say it. But at least I had one part of it down and I can concentrate on the other. But I managed to put it all together.

Terria Garner: You're living legend, right? You’re Black history. For the African American community, you are one of our living ancestors. How does hearing that make you feel?

Theresa Claiborne: You know what it's, it... I don't want to say it's a burden, but it is... it is something that I do think about now. I have to admit when I left pilot training and when I went to my first duty station, I never told people. They didn't know what I had done. So, there were people that found out about it. I didn't expect any special treatment. I didn't ask for any special treatment. I'm just going to prove to everybody that I deserve to be here. And it's not just because I was a Black woman that I got selected. No. I was just as capable, just as qualified as the next. And so, for a long time, I just never, I would never tell anyone. If they didn't know, they didn't know. But one of the things that I hate is that I didn't embrace it earlier, because, you know, could I have made even more of a difference? I don't know.

Lucy Jabbour: You are the president of Sisters of the Skies. A few people we've talked to, talk about the organization as something that has really helped them actually find their footing. What inspired you to help create Sisters of the Skies?

Theresa Claiborne: Well, it actually started with a conversation between two young ladies. One was a United pilot and the other was a Coast Guard pilot and they are on Facebook. And so, ones got pictures of them, you know, in the airplane and the others like, oh, wow, that's my favorite airplane. So, one sent a message to the other and they started chatting. And they're like, well, how many Black women are there? Well, they're not that many of us. They said, hey, maybe we should start an organization. Let's everybody get to know each other. And I was told at the time that I was the first phone call. Hey, would you join this organization if we - and I said absolutely. You at know, first we were just kind of a social group. We would do mentoring, because women were getting out there in the workforce. And then we said, you know what? We need to do something more. Let's give scholarships. And that first scholarship was a $2,500 scholarship that we awarded at the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, their annual convention and there - that's when people saw our name. 

Lucy Jabbour: What would you say is the mission statement of Sisters of the Skies?

Theresa Claiborne: It’s to increase the number of Black women on the flight deck. We have included other women of color. Even women, there's only about 5% of the airline pilots are women. So, we have a program called GRoW, which is Girls Rock Wings, where we appeal to 10-to-18-year-olds, and we hold it in different parts of the country. And we take them for a day. Take them up in an airplane. Take them to the tower. They get to interact with us. We all wear our uniforms. The instructors that take them up in the air are all in a uniform, but they're all Black women pilots. So, we believe if they can see it, they can be it. They need to see that, oh, wow, they’re pilots?! Well, many of these young ladies have never even seen a pilot before. They've never flown. They've never been to an airport. So, second is our mentorship program. We divide them up into cohorts. So, there's the beginners that are prior to the private pilot's license. And then as they get more licenses they get put in different groups. And the final group are the women who are seeking their airline job. And then there is scholarship. There were young ladies who got scholarships at our first gala. I believe it was 2018, if I'm correct, that are now airline pilots. So that's, you know, that's amazing for us. We are clearly increasing the number.

Terria Garner: You mentioned the quote, if you can see it, you can be it. Why is representation important for the future of aerospace?

Theresa Claiborne: You hear all the time about the shortage, the shortage of pilots. And you know what? We can do it just as well. So, why shouldn't we be represented? One of the most touching things I've ever heard and it gives me passion along these lines was in the military, I was flying a KC-135. This particular crew makeup or three women, myself as the aircraft commander. I had a woman as my co-pilot, slash first officer, my navigator was also a woman and my boom operator was the only male on the flight. And we’d gone out and done our mission. So, we're debriefing and at one point my boom operator says, Can I just say something AC? Which aircraft commander AC. A slash C. He said, I just want you to know that this was one of the best flights I've ever been on. I'm like, what? He goes, there's something about the way you women fly together. It's just the way you interact with each other. He goes, I just thoroughly enjoyed it. That that solidified for me that we have a place. We have a place at the table. We have a place on the flight deck. We can do it as well. 

Lucy Jabbour: What would you say is the most impactful message or lesson that you learned from your experience?

Theresa Claiborne: Throughout my career I've, heard the whispers. Did she just get here because of? There are people who would probably look at me and think, ah, I'm sure she just got the job for that reason. So, this is what I tell young women. Eyes on the prize. Be the best that you can be. Hone your craft. Know where your strokes are. You're an artist. You need to know what you're doing. You need to show people, I didn't get here just because of the fact that I'm a woman or I'm a black woman. I got here because I'm good. Trust me I'm qualified and so are all the other women that are on flight decks. 

Math STEM Ed PSA: Did you know that pilots have to use math skills to know how heavy their aircraft is and how that will affect things like takeoff and landing distances. Math skills also help pilots find accurate estimates when determining how quickly their aircraft will climb and to understand how wind can affect flight. These are just a few examples of how important math skills are when piloting an aircraft. To learn more about becoming a pilot go to faa.gov forward slash pilots.

Lucy Jabbour: Thanks for listening! Coming up, in the next episode of The Air Up There, we’re talking with Erik Lake or Erik Cleared for Take-Off and his Dad Tom.

Erik Lake: When I started flying with my dad everyone just kind of resonated with us. It just really like, I don’t know, they took it to heart. It just was something raw and like kind of real and it inspires people. I get a lot messages like, it affected them in some way that was positive and those are the things that I really enjoy hearing from people on there, so.

Lucy Jabbour: For more information check out faa.gov/podcasts.