Nearly 80 years after Amelia Earhart attempted to circumnavigate the globe, another Earhart is taking the reins.
Although pilot Amelia Rose Earhart isn’t related to the woman who disappeared over the Pacific Ocean, she shares the same ambition to make space for women in the world of aviation. With her successful 24,000-mile trip around the world, the 31-year-old pilot is now the youngest woman to fly around the world in a single-engine airplane.
But it hasn’t been easy. In a conversation with HuffPost Live, Earhart recalled a hearing a surprising comment while at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition in Geneva.
“A pilot who had no idea what we were doing walked up to me as I was standing on the steps of the plane and said, ‘Excuse me, ma’am. Would you like a pilot in your photo?’” Earhart explained to host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani. “I said, ‘Sir, there is a pilot in my photo -- me. I’m about to fly this thing around the world.’ And he looked at me with the biggest look of shock on his face."
With the prevalence of such gender bias in the aviation field, Earhart is taking a stand. Although just 6 percent of pilots are women, she hopes to improve those statistics by providing scholarships for girls to attend flight school through the Fly With Amelia Foundation.
Watch the full HuffPost Live interview here:
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