Interview with Boeing 747 Pilot Eva Claire Marseille

My name is Eva, and I am from the Netherlands. I have been a commercial airline pilot for the last six years. I love aviation and traveling. I share my joy in being an airline pilot online on Instagram (www.instagram.com/flywitheva). This has grown into a solid platform where I aim to inspire the next generation, especially girls, as well as people within and outside aviation.

No, I was working to become a journalist. After high school, I went to university to study Dutch literature and journalism; I got my bachelor's degree in 2008. I felt that a freelance journalism career would give me what I wanted: a life of travel, living abroad, and meeting lots of different people. In the end, this is what I now get from my career as an airline pilot. During my years at university, I started to doubt my goal of becoming a journalist and became interested in aviation. I decided to go for it, and that has been the best decision of my life.

I studied an integrated ATPL course from 2008 to 2010. After graduating from flight school in 2010, the pilot job market was really bad. Even experienced pilots were struggling to find a new position, let alone a 200-hour cadet like me. It took me 2.5 years to get hired by an airline. In the meantime, I worked in operations at the Dutch airline Martinair as a dispatcher. I kept my license and medical certificate valid, and invested in regular simulator training and courses (language, bush flying…) to improve my chances. When I was hired in 2013 to fly the Boeing 737-800 for a major European low-cost passenger airline, it was a dream come true. I was based in Girona, Rome, and Barcelona, and really enjoyed building up my jet experience. I worked there until the end of 2017: after four years, I got a new job in Hong Kong, flying cargo on the Boeing 747-8 and the Boeing 747-400ERF.

The whole lifestyle is different: it meant changing from short/medium haul flights, to medium-long haul flights. From always sleeping in my own bed and never seeing anything from a destination as we would fly straight back, to layovers at destinations all over the world. From flying during the day to mostly flying at night. From a stable roster to a very unstable roster and coping with jetlags. From living in Europe to living in Asia.

When you purely regard the airplanes, I would say it was a very doable step to change from a Boeing to a bigger Boeing. Honestly the 747 is simply the 737’s big sister. A lot of the systems and automation management are similar or even identical. It was more challenging to adapt to the new operating procedures of another airline, then to adapt to the new airplane. The 747 (especially the 747-8) does have a lot of ‘fancy’ features that make a pilots life easier compared to the 737, for example autostart, auto anti-ice, an airport map, automatic weather radar, and electronic checklists. And I now have a tiller on my side, so I also get to taxi the jet when it is my sector!

I do not fly for a cargo airline, but I do fly on the 747 cargo fleet indeed. My favourite airport is Anchorage in Alaska, as the approach and departure over the mountainous terrain are absolutely stunning, and it is a very social layover as there are always loads of my cargo flying colleagues around.

I would say flying cargo is more relaxed. There is no stress in case of ATC or technical delays to explain to the passengers: boxes are very patient, and seem always content ...haha! I don’t miss flying with disruptive passengers: some people really gave our cabin crew a hard time. That brings me to another difference: we don’t have cabin crew on board. The crew consists of 2 pilots, and on longer flights 3 or 4. That’s it!

Flying cargo I really enjoy the freedom to leave the flight deck whenever we want, as there is not even a flight deck door. On the passenger flights we had to coordinate getting out of the flight deck, for example to use the washroom, with the cabin crew. It was quite a procedure (all passengers needed to sit and wear their seatbelt, and I felt we always interrupted the cabin crew with their duties. I would feel bad ‘bothering’ them and stayed for long time in the flight deck without stretching my legs etc.), I don’t miss that! We now get up whenever we want to make food, use the washroom, stretch our legs, get another coffee etc.

I’m completely in love with the Boeing 747 and truly enjoy going to work. But I don’t fly in my free time anymore. I feel general aviation is expensive, and I don’t feel very safe in crowded Class G airspace. My single-engine rating expired some years ago. I love to travel, but I don’t particularly enjoy flying as a passenger. I’m always happy when we arrive at our destination!

The short answer is no. I absolutely love working with men and get along really well with many of my male colleagues. You don’t have to be “one of the guys” at all; I’ve never felt I needed to change my behavior or act more masculine. I’ve also never felt that my gender puts extra pressure on me or that my performance is judged differently. You have to meet certain professional standards, and they’re the same for men and women. I never really thought about it when I applied to a flight school 10 years ago: the aviation industry is very male-dominated.

That said, because we are still such a minority in the industry, it doesn’t occur to many girls that a career as a pilot is also an option for them. Although female pilots are no longer pioneers in the industry, it is still seen as a men’s profession. When I say I work for an airline, people invariably assume I’m a flight attendant or perhaps office staff. When I tell them I fly the jumbo, some people seem to find it hard to grasp. I aim to inspire the next generation of women to consider a career as a pilot by sharing my life and work on social media, giving interviews, and writing about my journey on my blog. I would love it if more women became pilots! Not because I think the aviation industry would be better if the percentage of female pilots (currently 4%) increased, but simply because it is the best job I can imagine, and I’d like more women to enjoy it. I mentor quite a few girls through social media, so don’t hesitate to reach out to me!