Michelle Gooris, also known as DutchPilotGirl (born 1991 or 1992), is a Dutch
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
and
YouTuber
A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...
.
Career
Born 1991 or 1992, Gooris was initially aimed at a medical career going to medical school.
She decided to change career directions and began her training to become a pilot when she was 19 years old at the
CAE Aviation Academies in
Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
,
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
and
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
,
for two years of courses.
Her grandfather had become a pilot when he was 74 and Gooris was 17, and he encouraged her to also take up flying.
She now encourages people to consider being pilots, but especially women who she says are still under represented in the field.
She says that 95% of pilots are male, a statistic that is mirrored in her YouTube viewer demographics.
In 2021, India had the highest percentage of female pilots, but that was still just 12%.
She graduated as a pilot in 2013,
and she started her YouTube channel under her alias ''DutchPilotGirl'' June 2014 gaining hundreds of thousands of subscribers and ten of millions of views over the following decade. Her first videos were of her first solo flights in a
Piper PA-28 Cherokee
The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of two-seat or four-seat light aircraft built by Piper Aircraft and designed for flight training, air taxi and personal use.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', pages 62–64. Werner & Werner Corp, ...
and a
Diamond DA40 Diamond Star
The Diamond DA40 Diamond Star is an Austrian four-seat, single-engine, light aircraft constructed from composite materials. Built in both Austria and Canada, it was developed as a four-seat version of the earlier DA20 by Diamond Aircraft I ...
.
Initially after qualifying she failed to find a job flying and it was two years before she got her first job working for
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish Low-cost carrier#Ultra low-cost carrier, ultra low-cost airline group headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland. The parent company, Ryanair Holdings plc, includes subsidiaries Ryanair , Malta Air, Buzz (Ryanair), Buzz ...
as the copilot of a
Boeing 737
The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington.
Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...
.
Before landing a job as a pilot she kept her focus on aviation working as an instructor at a flight simulator. She later moved to a
Palma de Mallorca
Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...
based charter company after around 500 flight hours with Ryanair.
As well as her social media used to promote flying Gooris also wrote an
ebook
An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...
called ''Become an Airline Pilot''.
She has also created other resources to help people considering this career path, including a
mobile app
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...
and a website.
Her videos of pilot viewpoints of places attract interest across many countries, from
The Connexion
''The Connexion'' is France's leading English-language media and has been providing news and practical updates about the country since 2002.
It is considered a primary source of information for anyone established or new to France and for those pl ...
reporting on her views of the
French Riviera
The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...
to ''The Dubrovnik Times'' on landing at
Dubrovnik Airport
Dubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport (; ), also referred to as Čilipi Airport (), is the international airport of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The airport is located approximately 15.5 km (9.5 mi) from Dubrovnik city center, near Čilipi. It was ...
.
Although she has stated that in her company she has "never experienced overt sexism" some reporting of her, and other female pilots, choose to focus more on her looks than her abilities and flight related content, with some choosing to refer to her as the "World's sexiest airline pilot" or "Instagram's Hottest Female Pilot".
References
External links
michellegooris.comdutchpilotgirl.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gooris, Michelle
1990s births
Living people
Dutch aviators
Dutch YouTubers