In 1921, a woman named Bessie Coleman, also often referred to as “Queen Bess” became the first Native American female pilot. In addition to this, Coleman became the first African American pilot of either genders, as well as the first to perform a public flight in 1922. Before these amazing achievements, Coleman lived a tough life. She worked day and night at numerous jobs in order to gather up enough money to pay for an education. Unfortunately, even after all her hard work, her saving did not make her enough money to finish any more than one year at a university. After having no choice but to drop out, she ended up working at a nail salon near her brothers’ home in Chicago. It was Coleman’s brother who sparked her drive to become a pilot when he teased her about her lack of rights in America when women in France were allowed to fly planes. She began applying to as many flight schools as she could, in hopes of being accepted to at least one. After being denied from numerous schools in the United States simply because of her race and gender, Coleman was accepted into the Caudron Brothers’ School of Aviation in France, which is where she earned her pilot’s license in 1921. From this moment on, Coleman decided that her goal was to encourage women and African Americans to strive for their dreams no matter what.

She performed for crowds all across the United States and refused to perform unless there was no segregation. Because of this, not only was she famous for her flying tricks, but also for standing so firmly in her beliefs. In 1923, Coleman survived a crash due to engine failure. However, this accident did not stop her, as she resumed her performances just a year later. Unfortunately, she was in another accident, but this time wasn’t so lucky. While instructing a student, a lose wrench got lodged into the engine of the plane, causing the student pilot to lose control and flip the airplane. Coleman fell from the open top of the plane to her death. This accident was extremely heartbreaking for the thousands of people who admired her, but Queen Bess will live on forever to inspire women of all races.

https://twitter.com/Good9824/status/1094934135574065153

Players:

The most prominent player in this situation is Delta Airlines itself. They have the highest interest as well as power in the situation and value their reputation/how they are being portrayed on social media to a very high extent. This negative feedback could look really bad for them so they have a very high interest in the scenario as well as the power to fix the situation and make themselves look better. In addition to Delta Airlines, I would put the passenger/ composer of the tweet on the line between players a subjects, as not only did they have enough interest in sharing their complaint on an enormous platform, they also have the power to give Delta a bad reputation, potentially causing them to make changes.

Subjects:

As previously mentioned, I would consider the airline passengers to be on the line in between players and subjects seeing as they have enough interest in sharing their complaint on an enormous platform, they also have the power to give Delta a bad reputation, potentially causing them to make changes. However, the passengers do not have enough power to make any changes on their own, which is why I would consider them subjects as well. Another party that may also be considered a subject might be other airlines. Other airline companies may be very interested in seeing what Delta may be doing wrong in order to make sure that they aren’t making the same mistakes, but don’t have any power in changing anything that Delta may or may not do.

Crowd:

In this situation, the crowd would be social media users who may solely stumble upon this tweet while scrolling through Twitter. They don’t have a whole lot of interest on the subject seeing as they may or may not be Delta customers, and the incident didn’t involve them, and they don’t have any power whatsoever in making any changes to the company and/or situation.

Context setters:

The context setters in this situation may include social media users who may have also had a bad experience with Delta and want to bring any bad situation to light. Depending on how determined they are they may not have a ton of interest, but they do have a higher amount of power due to the fact that they could bring their own issues to light on social media and retweet/reblog others’ bad experiences as well, giving Delta a bad reputation.

One event that was really fun and memorable in my life was an event and a vacation wrapped up in one. For basically my entire life, I was involved in competitive cheerleading. Because of this, I was always travelling and usually did so with my mother. We would have competitions almost every other weekend from October to May, so my mom and I were able to spend a lot of really sweet one on one time together which we both really cherished and forever will. When my last competition of my senior year came around, my team performed a really amazing and emotion-filled routine. Once off stage, my mom and I both cried as we knew it was the end of our cherished little weekend getaways together- or so we thought. At the awards ceremony we were surprised to hear that our team had won a full paid bid to compete at one more competition in Disney World. This was huge, as the Disney competition was the most prestigious in the entire United States. Needless to say, we were all ecstatic. Around a month later as my mom and I were getting ready to leave for the airport, my dad walked out of his room with his bags packed. I was super surprised and excited because since I’m the oldest of 5 kids, one of my parents usually has to stay at home with the kids. This was the first and last time that both my mom and my dad would be able to travel with me to a competition. We stayed at the Swan and Dolphin resort in Disney World and explored the parks in a whole new way. It was very different being at Disney without little kids, we were able to take our time and enjoy new foods and places that aren’t as interesting for the little ones. For the next 4 days we had a blast together jumping from parks to practices, and then to competitions. I will always remember the love and support I felt as I looked out into the crowd to see both of my parents standing there together cheering for me in my last moments as a cheerleader. It was very different hanging out with my parents when it was just the three of us, and that time we spent together laughing and exploring and making new memories is something that I will cherish forever and ever.

Aeroflot 737 Hijacking Attempt

Last week, on January 22nd, a flight on an Aeroflot Boeing 737 heading to Moscow from Surgut, Siberia experienced an attempted hijacking. This threat came from a passenger who was later identified as 41 year old Pavel Shapovalov. While in flight, Shapovalov, claiming that he was carrying weapons, ordered the Captain and First Officer of the flight to divert from their original destination, Moscow, and land in Afghanistan. Although the flight was in danger, the flight crew used spectacular communication skills in order to keep the passengers and themselves safe from any further threats and/or harm. The crew spoke to the attacker and persuaded him into believing that the flight had to first land in order to refuel before making the requested trip to Afghanistan. The plane safely landed in the Russian City of Khanty-Mansiysk, where the airport’s ground crews towed the plane to a specific and secluded area of the airfield. Waiting there for the flight to arrive was the airport’s special anti-terrorism forces who immediately arrested the would-be hijacker. Because of the effective communication between the cockpit, flight crew and ground crew, this potentially unfortunate and dangerous situation was eradicated before any harm took place. According to the Russian Airline, their employees have been going through extensive precautionary training in order to effectively respond to potentially harmful situations that may arise, such as this. Because of this event, the company has implemented additional security checks on all aircraft before departure. This current event goes to show just how crucial good communication skills are as well as Crew Resource Management, as if this was not implemented, the passengers and crew of this flight may not have been so lucky.

Source: https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2019-01-22/aeroflot-737-lands-safely-after-hijacking-attempt

Allison Gale

         My name is Allison Gale and I am an Air Transportation Major. When we were young, my classmates and I would constantly be asked what we wanted to be when we grew up. This question was always answered by future princesses, fairies and mermaids. However, none of these aspirations appealed to me. I was going to be a pilot. My answer was always responded to with a look that encompassed a mixture of confusion and surprise followed by a phrase along the lines of, “that’s a boy’s job.” Although this phrase was a  constant throughout my life, I never let it squander my aspirations. I decided that I wasn’t going to let society’s path limit me, nor was I going to believe that I couldn’t do something just because I’m a girl. These doubts from my peers sparked a fire in me and I became completely infatuated with every aspect of aviation.

      The summer after I graduated high school, I completed a discovery flight at a local airport near my home. Sixty minutes of bliss, a touch-and-go and a successful landing came and went, and I was sold. This experience left me awestruck and beaming with uncontainable  excitement, for it was this moment that I knew that this was going to be my life. The flight instructor referred to me a “natural” and was hesitant to believe that I had never flown before. From that day on, I decided to put my all into aviation, and strive to be the very best pilot I can be. I chose aviation as my major immediately upon acceptance into Ohio State and will continue to grow in my knowledge and passion for aviation for the remainder of my time here. Through this major, I will be able to hopefully complete my Private Pilot Certification and begin working towards my instrument ratings and then Commercial License and ATP Certification. When I graduate, I hope to find a job with a private jet or charter company. Once I work my way up and gain as many hours as possible, I hope to find a job in a regional airline or a cargo company. If all goes as planned, I will be able to reach my goals and enter officially into the aviation industry as a professional female pilot.