As part of our special coverage highlighting the importance of women in aviation, Tony Mallett goes airside at Heathrow to spend a busy morning with Skye Hester, one of Virgin Atlantic’s turnaround co-ordinators.
Aside from being an Airliner World contributor, Tony Mallett is also a teacher and inspirational speaker at schools and colleges across Yorkshire. It was here that he discovered some of his year-six pupils were fascinated by his background in aviation reporting. In particular, the students were keen to learn more about female roles within civil aviation, as part of a wider topic on equality and inspirational figures. Encouraged by the pupils’ enthusiasm for the subject, Tony approached David Gott, head of crew training at Virgin Atlantic and a former Airliner World interviewee, to establish who within the airline might fit the bill. David had little doubt as to who would be the perfect candidate, suggesting Skye Hester, one of the Virgin’s turnaround co-ordinators at Heathrow Terminal 3.
With their role model confirmed, Tony’s pupils researched female roles within STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As a class, they subsequently wrote more than two dozen letters…
