Page 36 T cjnews.com THE CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS November 12, 2009 And now for something completely different:

‘Aviation is not just a man’s world,’ says female pilot By SHELDON KIRSHNER She was fobbed off with the standard explanation hired by El Al. Merav Schwartz preceded her by a Staff Reporter that women were not eligible for com bat roles. year, and she, too, is a fi rst offi cer. Thwarted by such outmoded regulations, she de- As a , Shechter performs the same madar Shechter shattered the glass ceil ing in ferred her dream and served as an operations co-ordi- functions as the captain. They share fl ying du ties, and thereby struck a historic blow for nator in an F-15 squadron. as well as takeoffs and landings. Swomen’s rights in the Jew ish state. Due to a subsequent Israeli Supreme Court rul ing, “We both have to know how to fl y the plane,” she Shortly after joining Israel as a fi rst women were eventually allowed to apply for the course said. “But the captain is the commander and he has offi cer in 1998, she had the honour of be coming the to which she could only aspire. the last word when decisions are made. That’s the fi rst female commercial pilot in Israel to be promo- Having needlessly lost the opportunity to be a biggest difference between us.” ted to captain. combat pilot, Shechter did not despair. Buoyed by She flies either a or a , And now, 11 years on, she is working for El Al hope, she signed for private lessons, where she each of which carries 200 passengers and a crew. Airlines, Israel’s fl agship car rier, as a fi rst offi cer. mastered both theory and fl ying. On average, she is on duty twice a week. Schechter’s “Aviation isn’t just a man’s During this six- longest fl ight takes her from to Toronto. world,” she said in an inter- year period as an ap- Her mother, Elka, who hails from the Caribbe- view. “Not really.” prentice aviatrix, she an island of Curacao, accompanies her occasion- S h e w a s i n t e r v i e w e d also studied econom- ally. “She’s my best friend,” said Shechter, whose during a recent layover in To- ics at the College of hobbies include horseback riding, calisthenics and ronto, where she spoke about Management in Tel interior design. her un usual achievements Aviv and worked as a More often than not, she is away from her family at a venue sponsored by the bank analyst. about 14 days a month. For the past decade, she has Canada Is rael Cham ber of In the meantime, lived on Mosh av Tal Shachar, near Rehovot, where Commerce, UJA Federation she married Yair Eini, her husband was born. of Greater Toronto and the a real estate developer “When I’m in Israel, I have all the time for my Israel Forum of Canada. in Israel and . children. They were born into this situation, so it’s A sixth-generation sabra At Arkia Israel Air- a little bit easier.” on her late father’s side, and lines, she usually fl ew She has a nanny, but her husband helps out. the mother of two young the Tel Aviv-Eilat “He’s a great mother” she said, beaming. daughters, Daniella and Liah, So far, she has been Shechter joined El Al in No- treated with respect by vember 2002 after fl ying for her male colleagues. Arkia for four years. El Al fi rst offi cer Smadar Shechter “All the way,” she said. By reaching high, she ful- She has experienced fi lled a childhood dream, but neither sexism nor ha- her path to the pilot’s cockpit rassment. “Knock on was long and and circui tous. wood.” Now 38, she was smitten Some passengers are by flying at the age of 12, thrilled to learn that when she accompanied she is at the helm of the her parents on her maiden controls. As she put it, fl ight, a 19-hour trip to South “They’re very proud and Africa. happy to hear the voice Delighted to be sitting in of a woman.” an airplane, she asked her Once, after landing father, an economist, a litany the aircraft, a group of questions about the intri- of women surrounded cacies of aviation. On subse- Shecter to heap praise quent fl ights to different des- on her and tell her how tinations, she got to sit in the glad they were that a cockpit. woman had fl own them Always technically minded back home. and drawn to tinkering with She has no prob- and fixing things, she was lems with jet lag. “I fascinated by the mechanics Smadar Shechter sits in the cockpit, with Ehud Olmert, the then-Israeli prime minister, looking on. deal with it by resting.” of fl ying. Nor is she intimidated “I like this machine,” she said, referring to air- route. After about a year and a half, she earned her by turbulence, especially when she is off duty. “It planes. captain’s wings, an heretofore unprecedented feat for rocks me to sleep.” Schechter’s love affair with airplanes manifested a woman in Israel. Shechter, who has two older sisters, neither of itself when she was about to be called up for na- Having amassed 1,000 hours of flying time, she whom is a pilot, is currently waiting to enrol in a tional service applied for a fi rst offi cer’s job at El Al and got it. She captain’s course. Before being conscripted in 1989, she dashed off was not ex actly an un known quantity, having met some “I’m looking forward to taking and passing it, letters to the , hoping to gain ac- of its pilots. though it’s not easy. I hope to be a captain in the ceptance into the diffi cult pilot’s course. Shechter, however, was not the first female pilot coming year.”

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