Why We Fly

Dreams can come true

"She won't take it," the line mechanic announced on his portable radio to Crossair/Swissair's maintenance control office. The previous crew had written up the captain's airspeed indicator as being "intermittent." Capt. Elaine Buchanan had just boarded the airplane with the first officer and four Swiss flight attendants for a flight from Geneva, Switzerland, to Madrid, Spain. She checked the minimum equipment list and determined it was a no-go item. Maintenance control agreed, and a 30-minute delay was posted. A replacement was quickly installed, and the flight with almost 100 passengers was dispatched with minimal delay. The system of checks and balances had worked.

How did an American woman become a captain in Europe flying a jet for the premier European airline?

Name: Elaine Buchanan Age: 51 Certificates: ATP, multiengine Career: First officer, FedEx Flight time: More than 12,000 hours Aircraft currently flown: DC-10 Home airport: Theodore Francis Green State Airport (Providence, Rhode Island)

"I grew up in Narragansett, Rhode Island, in the early 1970s," she explains. "There was not a whole lot of opportunity for young people. Without a college education, I found myself working restaurant jobs with little future or career potential. Then, a good friend offered to take me up on a glider flight in Vermont. He explained the controls, the aerodynamics, and I experienced the wonders of flight. I was hooked. From that point on I knew I wanted to fly."

With considerable help and encouragement from her mother, Buchanan enrolled at an aeronautical college in New England. After graduation, with a degree in aviation management and her commercial pilot certificate and instrument ratings in hand, Buchanan got a job with Federal Express as a courier driving a truck. "I had to work to make ends meet, and FedEx was a great opportunity. But driving a delivery truck was not exactly what I had in mind. Most people in my position went on to instruct to build their flight time, but that just was not my cup of tea."

Fortunately, Buchanan was able to take advantage of FedEx's career improvement programs and earn a multiengine rating. It then took five years building pilot time after hours before she met the minimum requirements to be hired as a regional airline pilot.

During the next nine years, Buchanan would become very familiar with the airline term seniority. "Flying as a first officer is a wonderful opportunity to gain hands-on experience and to watch and learn. When it comes time to upgrade to captain, you feel comfortable and competent. And I was very happy flying turboprop aircraft in the Northeast. The weather was challenging and demanded your full attention." Her career path, however, soon took an unexpected turn.

"My husband, also an ATP, and I had responded to an advertisement in the New York Times seeking qualified and current Saab SF-340 captains in Europe. After pre-employment simulator checkrides in San Antonio, we were hired as two of 30 foreign pilots allowed by the Swiss government to augment the nearly 1,000 Crossair/Swissair pilot team. The training was demanding and highly professional, and it was a pleasure to fly exceptionally well-maintained equipment and work with a very competent international staff."

Elaine Buchanan transitioned to the four-engine British Aerospace 146 jet in 1995 as captain and flew Swissair routes in Europe until late 1999. She is credited with being the captain on the first flight into Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in 1998.

Returning to the United States, Buchanan was re-hired by FedEx in 2001 as a second officer on a Boeing 727. She's now a first officer on the DC-10. "My career has now come about almost 360 degrees. Here I am back in Rhode Island working as a pilot with FedEx with more than 12,000 hours' flight experience. It is an honor to be among the 5 percent of airline pilots in the United States and Europe who are women, and I am thankful for the professionalism in my chosen career."

Robert Paul Horne is a retired airline captain with 21,000 flight hours. A professor at a New England aeronautical college, he is working on a flight instructor certificate.