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In this interview with Canadian pilot Lola Reid Allin, we talk about her new memoir, launching on September 17th, 2024.

00:00 Introduction and Book Launch
01:17 Synopsis and Reading
09:28 Lola's Aviation Career
11:59 Transitioning Beyond Flying
16:01 Inspiring Others: Why did you write the book?
17:34 Challenges and Discrimination: Navigating a Male-Dominated Field
32:18 Balancing Motherhood and a Flying Career
39:55 Exploring the World: Lola's Adventures in Travel
49:28 Supporting Women in Aviation: Lola's Involvement with the 99s
51:56 The Importance of Self-Reliance and Education
59:04 Book Release: 'Highway to the Sky'


Here's the blurb:

With females making up just 5% of the world’s pilots, this memoir crosses genres to combine aviation history, the author’s journey from unwanted child to successful pilot, and the feminist experience, and will appeal to multiple aviation communities.

“Don’t be silly! Girls can’t fly,” seven-year-old Lola’s father admonishes her as they fly across Canada on a commercial flight in 1962. She is crushed—but decides he must be right. She’s only ever seen male pilots, after all.

Highway to the Sky begins during the empty zone of women in aviation, a three-decade drought following WWII when men reclaimed the jobs that had been performed by women during the war and forced women back to diapers and dishes, where they “belonged.”

Despite Lola’s childhood desire to avoid the straitjacket of traditional female roles and become a pilot, her desperate need for unconditional affection after a lonesome childhood sways her determination. At age twenty, she leaps into marriage and motherhood. Four years, one toxic relationship, and one private pilot license later, she leaves her husband, even though she knows she’ll be censured by friends, family, and 1970s society at large.

Lola’s head-on battle with tradition continues as the lone female pilot in her advanced flight training program and on the job as a flight instructor, bush pilot, charter pilot, and commuter airline pilot between 1979 and 1993. Flying is challenging at times, yes—but her true obstacles are the hostility, sabotage, and discrimination she faces in her industry. She perseveres, however. Ultimately, flying is what gives her the courage to regain control of her life—and helps

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Blue skies, happy reading, and happy listening!

-Liz Booker