At the end of 2025 there were 100,704 active women pilots in the United States, the first time the figure has passed 100,000, out of 887,519 active pilots in total. Women made up 16.4 percent of active student pilots and 7.72 percent of pilots holding a certificate beyond student, which is the clearest signal in the data that the proportion is rising rather than static.
This page sets out what the numbers say, which organizations are worth joining, which chapters meet near Los Angeles, and what learning to fly here actually involves. For the money specifically, our aviation scholarships page lists the funds, amounts and deadlines in detail, including the ones restricted to women.
The Numbers, And What Changed In 2025
The FAA counts airmen certificates each year and publishes the totals in its U.S. Civil Airmen Statistics. The year-end 2025 figures, reported by AFM on 28 April 2026, put the active pilot population at 887,519, of which 370,286 were student pilots. Active women pilots reached 100,704, passing 100,000 for the first time, of whom 60,764 held student certificates.
Those two facts together are the interesting part. Women were 16.4 percent of active student pilots but 7.72 percent of the 517,233 pilots holding a certificate beyond student, according to an analysis of the same FAA year-end 2025 data published at jennybeatty.com and read on 13 September 2026. A share among students that is more than double the share among certificated pilots is what a growing population looks like in a dataset.
One caveat that the same analysis makes, and that we would repeat: FAA student pilot certificates do not expire, so the student total is inflated by people who stopped flying years ago. Attrition among student pilots is high. Read the student percentage as a directional signal rather than as a precise measure of who is currently in a cockpit.
Where The Percentage Is Highest And Lowest
| Certificate Or Role | Women As A Share |
|---|---|
| Aircraft dispatchers | 21.19 percent |
| Commercial pilots | 10.88 percent |
| Flight instructors | 9.59 percent |
| Private pilots | 9.41 percent |
| Remote pilots | 8.99 percent |
| All pilots excluding students | 7.72 percent |
| Airline transport pilots | 5.71 percent |
| Mechanics | 3.04 percent |
Source: analysis of FAA U.S. Civil Airmen Statistics, year-end 2025, published at jennybeatty.com and read 13 September 2026.
Read that table from the bottom up and it describes a pipeline with a long lag. The airline transport pilot figure of 5.71 percent is the lowest pilot number on the list because an ATP reflects a decision made 10 to 20 years earlier, not a decision made now. The commercial and flight instructor figures, both around 10 percent, are closer to the present. The student figure of 16.4 percent is the future. Nothing about this changes quickly, because the certificate ladder itself takes years to climb.
Women In Aviation International
Women in Aviation International describes itself as having over 20,000 members worldwide and as the largest nonprofit of its kind, according to its own website read on 13 September 2026. It runs an annual conference, a network of local and collegiate chapters, and a substantial scholarship program that awards flight training, type ratings, maintenance training and university funding each year.
Two practical points. Membership generally precedes scholarship eligibility, so if a scholarship cycle matters to you, join before the application window rather than during it. And the conference is where a disproportionate number of the awards are announced and where the hiring conversations happen, which makes it worth attending even in a year when you are not applying for anything.
The Ninety-Nines, And The Chapters Near Los Angeles
The Ninety-Nines was established in 1929 by 99 women pilots, with Amelia Earhart as its first president, and describes itself today as having over 6,000 members across more than 40 countries. Those figures are from the Los Angeles 99s chapter site, read 13 September 2026.
The organization is structured into sections and chapters. The Southwest Section covers California, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada and Utah and describes itself as having over 1,600 licensed women pilot members across 56 chapters, according to the section website read on 13 September 2026. Chapters in and around Southern California that publish their own sites include the Los Angeles 99s, the San Gabriel Valley 99s, the Orange County Ninety-Nines and the San Diego 99s. Chapter boundaries and meeting arrangements change, so check the section's chapter directory for what is currently active near you rather than relying on any list, including this one.
What a chapter is actually for, in our experience of students who join one: a room full of people who have already solved the problem you are currently stuck on. Which examiner has availability. Which aircraft is worth renting. How to plan a first cross-country to Santa Barbara. Who is flying somewhere on Saturday and has a seat. That is worth more to a student pilot than most of what is written about aviation, and it costs the price of membership.
Scholarships For Women Pilots
There is real money in this area, and more of it goes unclaimed than people assume, because applications take work and deadlines are missed. Our aviation scholarships page lists the current programs with amounts and deadlines as published. Among the funds it covers that are open to women specifically are the Ninety-Nines First Wings Awards and Flight Training Scholarships, the Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship Fund, the Vicki Cruse Memorial Scholarship for emergency maneuver and aerobatic training, and the Women in Aviation International scholarship program.
Three things scholarship committees look for, which nobody tells applicants:
- Evidence you will finish. A committee is choosing between candidates who will all spend the money on flying. They award to the one most likely to complete the rating, which means a training record, a written test already passed, and a school already chosen read better than enthusiasm.
- A specific ask. "$6,000 toward the instrument rating I start in January, at a school where I already fly" beats "funding to pursue my dream of flight".
- Membership and involvement. Most of these funds are run by member organizations, and most require membership. Several weight local chapter involvement.
The other funding sources that are not sex-restricted but matter just as much — the AOPA Foundation, EAA, the Ray Aviation Scholarship, university and state aid — are on the same page.
Learning To Fly At Van Nuys
Two of our flight instructors are women. Kayla is a flight instructor known for a patient, encouraging teaching style and for the Malibu sunset flights she runs. Alexis is a flight instructor students describe as trustworthy, and she is particularly good at giving first-timers the confidence to take the controls. Sophia runs the front office as student coordinator and Mona is our office manager. You can ask for a specific instructor when you book, and we would encourage you to, because instructor fit is the single biggest determinant of whether training goes well.
We train under Part 61 at Van Nuys Airport, a Class D field underneath the Los Angeles Class B shelf and one of the busiest general aviation airports in the world. That has a specific consequence for any student here: you learn busy-airport radio work from your first lessons, because there is no alternative. Students who train at quiet fields have to learn it later, usually badly.
The Practical Obstacles Nobody Writes About
Most articles on this subject deal in encouragement. Here are the actual friction points our instructors see, and what to do about them.
Seat Position And Rudder Reach
Training aircraft are designed around a broad range of pilot sizes, but the rudder pedals in some types are a genuine reach for shorter pilots. The answer is a proper seat cushion, not a folded jacket: a firm, purpose-made cushion of the right thickness fixes both the sight picture over the cowling and the pedal reach, and it does so consistently every flight. Ask your instructor to set it up on lesson one rather than adapting around a bad position for twenty hours.
Headset Fit
A headset that clamps badly or sits wrong is a two-hour headache and a distraction from learning. Try several before buying, and do not assume the most expensive is the best fit for your head. We cover the buying decision on pilot headsets for student pilots.
Scheduling Around Everything Else
This is the real one, and it is not specific to women, but it disproportionately affects anyone carrying caregiving responsibilities. Training progress is driven almost entirely by frequency: two lessons a week finishes a private pilot certificate in four to six months; one lesson a week takes nine to fourteen and costs more in total because skills decay between flights. The fix is two standing slots of different kinds, one weekday evening and one weekend morning, so that they fail for unrelated reasons. Our page on part-time flight training in Los Angeles works through the cadence question properly.
The Medical
A third-class medical certificate under 14 CFR 61.23 is required to fly solo as a student pilot and to exercise private pilot privileges. Get the examination done early, before spending money on training, because a condition that complicates the exam is much easier to work through at the start than at hour 15. A first-class medical is required for airline transport pilot privileges.
What Training Costs Here
| Course | Price |
|---|---|
| Discovery flight, 60 minutes | $229 |
| Sport Pilot | $8,400 |
| Private Pilot, Standard | $10,400 |
| Instrument Rating | $11,700 |
| Commercial Pilot | $15,400 |
| Multi-Engine Rating | $5,100 |
| CFI, CFII and MEI program | $15,400 |
| Airline Pilot Career Program | $84,000 |
| Teens Pilot Course, ages 10 to 15 | $4,200 |
Financing is available interest-free directly with us over up to 12 months, or through Stratus Financial over up to 15 years from $2,500 down with a soft credit check. A scholarship applied against one of these course prices goes a long way, which is the practical reason to take the applications seriously.
Where The Numbers Go Next
If the reason you are reading this is a career rather than a hobby, the relevant figures are these. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $232,140 for airline pilots, copilots and flight engineers and $123,220 for commercial pilots in May 2025 wage data, with the occupation projected to grow 7 percent from 2025 to 2035. In California the airline pilot median is $353,900 and the commercial pilot median is $165,590, from 2025 BLS wage data as published by O*NET OnLine. All read 13 September 2026.
The route runs private, instrument, commercial under 14 CFR 61.129, the instructor certificates, then 1,500 hours under 14 CFR 61.159 before an unrestricted airline transport pilot certificate. We set the whole thing out on the airline pilot career program and, for anyone changing career later in life, on career change to pilot.
Related Reading
- Aviation scholarships — every fund we could verify, with amounts and deadlines.
- Private pilot license in Los Angeles — the certificate most people start with.
- Part-time flight training in Los Angeles — fitting lessons around work and family.
- Career change to pilot — the plan at 30, 40 and 50.
- Meet every instructor — the full team at Van Nuys.
- Pilot salary in California — what flying pays in this state.
Women In Aviation FAQ
What Percentage Of Pilots Are Women?
At FAA year-end 2025, women were 7.72 percent of the 517,233 US pilots holding a certificate beyond student, and 16.4 percent of active student pilots. There were 100,704 active women pilots in total, the first time the figure has passed 100,000. Sources: AFM, 28 April 2026, and an analysis of FAA U.S. Civil Airmen Statistics published at jennybeatty.com, both read 13 September 2026.
How Many Women Airline Transport Pilots Are There?
Women hold 5.71 percent of US airline transport pilot certificates in FAA year-end 2025 data, the lowest share of any pilot certificate level. That is a lagging figure: an ATP reflects a career decision made a decade or more earlier, which is why the student and commercial percentages are higher.
What Is Women In Aviation International?
A nonprofit membership organization for women in every part of the industry, which describes itself as having over 20,000 members worldwide, read from its own website on 13 September 2026. It runs an annual conference, local and collegiate chapters, and a large scholarship program. Membership generally precedes scholarship eligibility.
What Are The Ninety-Nines?
An international organization of women pilots established in 1929 by 99 charter members, with Amelia Earhart as its first president. It describes itself as having over 6,000 members in more than 40 countries. The Southwest Section covers California, Hawaii, Arizona, Nevada and Utah with over 1,600 members across 56 chapters.
Which Ninety-Nines Chapters Are Near Los Angeles?
Chapters in and around Southern California that publish their own websites include the Los Angeles 99s, the San Gabriel Valley 99s, the Orange County Ninety-Nines and the San Diego 99s. Chapter boundaries and meeting arrangements change, so check the Southwest Section's chapter directory for what is currently active near you.
Are There Scholarships Just For Women Pilots?
Yes. The Ninety-Nines administer the Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship Fund, First Wings Awards, Flight Training Scholarships and the Vicki Cruse Memorial Scholarship, and Women in Aviation International runs a large annual scholarship program. Our aviation scholarships page lists the current amounts and deadlines as published.
Do You Have Women Flight Instructors?
Yes. Kayla and Alexis are both flight instructors at Van Nuys. You can request a specific instructor when you book, and we would encourage it, because instructor fit affects how well training goes more than almost anything else.
Is There Anything Different About Learning To Fly As A Woman?
Nothing in the regulations or the syllabus. The practical differences our instructors see are ergonomic and logistical: getting the seat cushion and rudder reach right on lesson one, finding a headset that genuinely fits, and building a weekly schedule that survives the rest of your life. All three are solvable in the first two lessons if you raise them.
How Much Does It Cost To Start?
A 60-minute discovery flight is $229 and is credited in full toward training if you enroll within 24 hours. The Sport Pilot course is $8,400 and the Standard Private Pilot course is $10,400. Financing is available interest-free over up to 12 months directly with us, or over up to 15 years through Stratus Financial.
Come And Fly It Yourself
The way to find out whether this is for you is one hour in the left seat. A 60-minute discovery flight is $229, you fly the airplane with an instructor beside you, and the cost is credited in full toward your training if you enroll within 24 hours. If you would rather talk first — about scholarships, about scheduling, or about which instructor to ask for — book a free consultation or call (818) 330-1318 any day between 9 AM and 9 PM. We are at 7900 Balboa Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91406, at Van Nuys Airport.