New Pilots: How sweet it is

Just 13 years old, Kennedy had never been to an airport—any airport. On that day she got to climb inside a Beech Baron. Kennedy’s beaming face can be seen alongside another smiling Girl Scout sitting in the cockpit, preserved for all time on a box of Café Cookies.

Nearly two decades later, Kennedy has a photo of herself emerging from a Piper Warrior, wearing the same huge smile. This time she is the pilot in command. The photo was taken after her successful private pilot checkride on January 17.

Now a chemical engineer in the Boston area, Kennedy did not pursue aviation as a career—but she never forgot that thrilling glimpse into the world of general aviation, and she never let go of the idea that she would become a pilot.

“I feel like I had one of those light-bulb-going-off moments where it’s like pulling back the curtain and not realizing there’s a whole secret world,” she said.

The youngest of three daughters, Kennedy (née Hammes) was an active Girl Scout. “Girl Scouts was a big part of my family’s life from the time I was a toddler,” she said.

The Kansas City metropolitan area was the location for the cookie box photo shoot that year because, Kennedy said, the area offered a range of backdrops—Girl Scouts could be shown ziplining or horseback riding, but also visiting a radio station or, in her case, an airport.

The Girl Scouts do not offer an aviation badge, but the program has awards and badges pertaining to science, technology, engineering, and math. Troops visit airports and learn about aviation through the efforts of groups such as The Ninety-Nines, Women in Aviation, and the Experimental Aircraft Association.

During her day at the airport, Kennedy met women pilots and airport representatives. She assumed that women played a much more visible role in aviation. It wasn’t until she was taking flight lessons that she realized women represent a small percentage of the pilot population—currently around 6 percent.

Kennedy learned to fly in 2018 with East Coast Aero Club at Lawrence G. Hanscom Field (BED) in Bedford, Massachusetts.

After she posted her before and after photos online, Kennedy received more than a thousand responses—many debating the merits of each flavor of Girl Scout cookie.

“I now live in the Boston area, but I could never have done this without my Kansas City roots,” Kennedy wrote in a letter to Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport. “The time, effort, and advocacy to expose young people to aviation makes such a huge impact—I know that it did for me!”

She plans to get started on her instrument rating while she has momentum, and also take her family flying. She looks forward to going back to the Kansas City area and take her parents for a flight.

“It’s been an awesome experience,” Kennedy said. “I can’t believe I waited this long.”