For Nicole Chee, First Officer at Scoot, being a woman has never posed a challenge in the audacious pursuit of her dreams to become a pilot. Citing her first encounters with aviation – plane watching at Changi Beach when she was three, she recounts being entranced by the loud roar of engines, as well as the planes descending upon Singapore’s approach path. “How does that big machine get up in the air? It was just the fascination with the physics of flight… For me, planes were more interesting than being able to go from point A to B.” Little did Chee know that her fascination would spark a lifelong passion with flying, a path less travelled for someone born to parents with jobs outside of the aviation industry.
Lucky for her, her parents were exceptionally supportive, save for the concerns about their daughter being in a male-dominated industry. “They grounded me by saying that it’s not going to be easy to get in,” Chee recalls when she persisted in wanting to be a pilot. She also attributes her confidence in flying to having prior experience as cabin crew, but to the young pilot, the feeling of being an air stewardess and actually flying an aircraft was worlds apart.
“Grateful.” Chee says simply when asked about how she felt when she finally became a pilot. The smile that spread across her face was small but meaningful—a culmination of years upon years of hard work. She continues: “Grateful for almost everything. Grateful for the opportunity, grateful that I can be doing something I love everyday.” The pilot shares that the emotions she felt when she received the offer was complex: surrealness, disbelief and apprehension at what the future held for her. At long last, the euphoria set in. “My life is finally starting,” Chee remembers thinking, “everything has come full circle.”
Now a full-fledged pilot, she embraces the unpredictability that comes with her job. This spans facing new sets of challenges everyday in an ‘office’ at least 39,000 feet above ground, and managing her personal life including caring for her one-year old son. Chee emphasises that the latter was not so much ‘balancing’ as ‘managing’, where organising her relationships with friends and family around her work schedule was absolutely necessary. With laser-like focus being essential on the job, Chee has had to compartmentalise personal feelings at times for the safety of herself and her passengers. Recounting an instance where her son fell out of his crib the morning she was to fly to Melbourne, she cites her reliable support system and technology that allows her to communicate with her loved ones easily as reasons why she felt at ease enough to leave her son at home in the care of her family. Such is the life of a modern woman unrelentingly dedicated to different aspects of her life.
Perhaps it was a stroke of luck or even a sign then for Chee that another woman, Scoot’s Captain Eva Maria Thein, was at the helm, training her batch of cadets. Seeing Thein in this position was Chee’s indication of Scoot’s values and views on gender equality, so was the warm support she received after conceiving her son. As pessimistic as it sounds, this news was surprising: who would have thought that a company—a prominent one at that—in such a male-oriented industry would give Chee all the support she needed and more? To understand and consider the different priorities of today’s women such as Chee have? Turns out, Scoot doesn’t have a male to female quota for the job, meaning that anyone and everyone regardless of gender has a fair shot as long as they have the passion for flying.
“Flying an aircraft and being responsible for hundreds of passengers does not differ for female or male pilots. The professionalism and competencies expected of a pilot are not determined by gender. As someone who has had the pleasure to fly with, and guide numerous adept men and women across hundreds of Scoot flights, I encourage more women with a passion to roam the skies, with a passion to connect loved ones across borders, or with a passion to control a behemoth aircraft at 40000 feet, to join the aviation sector and its increasingly diverse community.”
Captain Ian Cheng, Senior Vice President — Flight Operations, Scoot
Being the only woman in a group of 25 cadets, she didn’t feel challenged or unfairly treated in any way. “We’ve all taken the same test to demonstrate our proficiency over and over again”. In fact, the pilot recalled that cooperation between the genders was key during training, where sharing possible test questions and flying experiences were common. More importantly, working together meant that safety procedures were done more quickly and thoroughly, which is ultimately the main priority of any pilot. As Chee has said on multiple occasions: “The plane doesn’t differentiate between men and women.” The takeaway here? To step up like Chee did and try anyway, because you never know when you’ll be successful.
The pilot has come a long way. Looking back at her storied past, she would say to her younger self: “Never be afraid to try”, and “rejection is just redirection”. It was clear that Chee’s ambition and bravery has gotten her the job and more, and she encourages other pilot-hopefuls to “pursue and take any avenue you can to get [where you want to be]”.
As for what’s next for the First Officer? “I want to keep growing in my profession, and to eventually get from the right-hand seat to the left-hand seat.” For the uninitiated, that is to be in command of the plane in pilot lingo. Chee doesn’t ask for much in her personal life, only to raise a “strong and healthy child”, just like any other mother would.
HerCampus would like to thank Scoot’s First Officer Nicole Chee and Wrightia Wahid for their insightful answers.