Dr. John Watrel was waiting for take-off along with the other passengers on their Delta Boeing 757 Los Angeles to Atlanta flight.
John is the chancellor of Embry-Riddle Worldwide, which is touted as one of the country’s most well-respected schools for aviation and aerospace.
As he sat, he overheard an excited conversation between a mother and her two children, who had just visited the cockpit.
He heard something that as a chancellor, a pilot, and a Delta passenger with well over two million flight miles, he had never heard before.
That the pilot and co-pilot were mother and daughter.
“I thought that was amazing. I was in awe,” wrote John, “I asked if I could visit them, too.”
He then met Captain Wendy Rexon and her first-officer daughter, Kelly Rexon.
He learned that Wendy’s other daughter, Kate, is also a pilot for Delta, piloting an Airbus A320... as is her father, also flying for Delta… as is her husband, a pilot for American.
In an industry where 7% of all pilots are women, it’s a rarity to have one.
To have women make up the entire flight crew is infinitesimally small.
To have them both in the same family?
This was a first.
After his discovery, John tweeted about it and then put out a press release from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University .
“The first officer had a great role model for becoming a pilot. Her mother,” John said in the release. “It’s good for aviation and inspiring for all of us. As the aviation workforce continues to broaden so that pilots like the Rexons are no longer a novelty, the aviation industry will grow stronger and more resilient to changes.
There has to be more diversification in the industry. It’s crucial and one of the key factors we focus on. When there are more opportunities, everyone wins."
Yes, this is a family business.
"We would run around in their captain hats and have fun as little kids and go on their trips with them," recounts Kelly. "It was definitely part of the family business, and I started flying when I was 16, and I had the pleasure of being Kate's instructor and she was my first student.
When Kate and I were building time in little airplanes we go on vacations and mom and dad are in the back seat.
Mom would sit actually in the back of the airplane. It was a little four-seater and she'd say, 'no, no.'”
Says Wendy, "Other parents would say, 'How can you let your children fly airplanes?' Boy, I'd much rather give them the keys to the airplane than go with their friends out late at night to parties. You know, driving in the cars."
And as a lover of symbolism….intentional or unintentional...i would be remiss if i didn’t point out that the flight attendant crew for that particular flight…
...all but one of the crew...
….were made up by male stewards.