My niece turned 14 in May. She starts high school in late August. She's aviation crazy, loves anything and everything to do with airplanes and flying, and has since she was a tiny tot. She loves going to air shows, loves going to the airport to watch the planes, builds plane models. She is saving her babysitting money so she can take flying lessons and get her pilot's license when she is older. Even when she was a small child, she talked about wanting to join the military. In the last year or so, she's talked more seriously with her parents and I about attending either the Air Force, Naval, or Coast Guard Academy. She knows she will have to work hard to achieve her dream. She knows she needs to start planning and thinking now. She knows it won't be easy. She's a straight A student. She's active in sports, gymnastics, track & field, swimming and diving. She's involved with scouting and her church's youth group. All in all a kid any parent would be proud to have.
I think that if she does decide to try and go to one of the military academies, she may well manage to do it. Thing is, I think she's got her thoughts centered on being a military pilot. I'm not sure that it's possible. The entire family is made up of very small statured people. The tallest in the family is an uncle, who's 5'8. The tallest female would be my mother, who's all of 5'3". The rest of the women are within a couple inches of 5 feet. I'm just barely over 5', my brother (her dad) is 5'6". Her mom is from a family of munchkins too, her mom is 4'10". My niece is currently 4'11". She spained an ankle in June in a bad gymnastics landing, and the orthopedic surgeon told her parents that her x-rays show that she's nearly done growing, that she shouldn't expect to be any more than 5'1" at most. The shortness goes back a couple generations at least. She's not going to hit a growth spurt and wind up 5'5".
I may well be wrong, but I dated a guy who'd been in the Air Force when I was in my mid twenties, and I remember him telling me there were strict height restrictions for pilots. He'd wanted to be one, but his 6'7" height had stopped him cold. I know there is a minimum height as well, and I'm pretty sure it's no where near 5' or 5'1", it's more. I want my niece to be able to achieve all that she'd like to, but I also want her to understand from the very beginning what her limits might be. I know she can join the military, one of my high school girlfriends joined the Army, and is still in, as far as I know, and she is shorter than I am. But Irene didn't become a pilot. What are the height restrictions, if any for a female military pilot? Do they vary by type of aircraft? And are civilian standards different/lower? She loves the idea of joining the military, but loves the idea of being a pilot even more, so I could see her attending a civilian university or college and majoring in aviation, with her sights on working as a civilian pilot. She talks about going to Embry-Riddle as much as the academies. Thanks in advance for any advice.
I think that if she does decide to try and go to one of the military academies, she may well manage to do it. Thing is, I think she's got her thoughts centered on being a military pilot. I'm not sure that it's possible. The entire family is made up of very small statured people. The tallest in the family is an uncle, who's 5'8. The tallest female would be my mother, who's all of 5'3". The rest of the women are within a couple inches of 5 feet. I'm just barely over 5', my brother (her dad) is 5'6". Her mom is from a family of munchkins too, her mom is 4'10". My niece is currently 4'11". She spained an ankle in June in a bad gymnastics landing, and the orthopedic surgeon told her parents that her x-rays show that she's nearly done growing, that she shouldn't expect to be any more than 5'1" at most. The shortness goes back a couple generations at least. She's not going to hit a growth spurt and wind up 5'5".
I may well be wrong, but I dated a guy who'd been in the Air Force when I was in my mid twenties, and I remember him telling me there were strict height restrictions for pilots. He'd wanted to be one, but his 6'7" height had stopped him cold. I know there is a minimum height as well, and I'm pretty sure it's no where near 5' or 5'1", it's more. I want my niece to be able to achieve all that she'd like to, but I also want her to understand from the very beginning what her limits might be. I know she can join the military, one of my high school girlfriends joined the Army, and is still in, as far as I know, and she is shorter than I am. But Irene didn't become a pilot. What are the height restrictions, if any for a female military pilot? Do they vary by type of aircraft? And are civilian standards different/lower? She loves the idea of joining the military, but loves the idea of being a pilot even more, so I could see her attending a civilian university or college and majoring in aviation, with her sights on working as a civilian pilot. She talks about going to Embry-Riddle as much as the academies. Thanks in advance for any advice.