On board with the pilot Fátima Ginard: from "let's see if you park well" to "how proud, she's a girl"

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He got up at 3:30 a.m.

but she is fresh, smiling and you can see that she is brimming with energy from every pore.

Fátima Ginard, a 39-year-old Vueling commander, belongs to that

We have an appointment with her at Barcelona airport at 5.20 to travel to Paris and back.

We accompany her to the signing room, the airport room where pilots and co-pilots accept the flight on an iPad, they see the number, the plane they are going to take, the established route, the weights they are going to handle, the fuel they will need, the meteorology... Some homework that she has brought facts from home.

That's why he gets up two hours before signing:

he says, "and even more so yesterday, when I went to bed later than normal because my daughter has a math exam today and we were reviewing. Also, I had to do lunch for school, because yesterday I didn't have time. But I like to be quiet at home for a while having a coffee while I prepare the flights for the day".

Today there will be four, after going and returning to Paris,

Everything will be done on the same plane and with the same crew, five people in addition to the co-pilot, whom we meet in another room.

There, all the flight data is reviewed, and then the plane, before the passenger begins to board, about 200 people.

In the cockpit, a frantic typing begins on a mini screen, where the pilot programs the plane to fly to Paris Orly.

The takeoff

Although his sympathy remains intact, the time has come to get serious, an attitude that does not change until, after takeoff, the desired altitude is reached.

Then it seems that the pilot and co-pilot relax, they even allow themselves to admire the incredible views of the

Priceless.

It is then that I ask him why he became a pilot, if anyone in his family was.

But no, it was a simple comment from his mother: "When I was 13 or 14 years old, one day she told me: 'You could be a pilot.'

Once again advised by her mother, she first went to Ocaña (Toledo) to take a gliding course.

she recalls with a laugh.

the girl who flew

And yes, he liked it.

So much so that at the age of 16 he got his license and until he was 18 he would fly as a hobby when he didn't have school.

"That the girl has come to fly", they said when they saw her.

As soon as he finished his studies, he enrolled in a school in Cuatrovientos that no longer exists and

first in a Turkish charter company, then in the Irish flag company Air Lingus and since 2012 in Vueling, where two years later he became a commander.

A career that has gone parallel to that of her husband, also a Vueling pilot.

When I see her petite and excited about what she's doing, but I look ahead and down, I ask her if you have to be special to have a job like that.

He answered without hesitation: "What you have to have is the desire to be a pilot, the alarm clock at 3:30 a.m. goes off a lot. Either you like it or it won't work. What wears you down the most are the schedules. The word is vocational.

Commander Ginard in the signing room. David Ramírez

And the necessary temper knowing that you are carrying almost 200 people on the plane?

"It doesn't stress me out," he says right away, "I think I have to fly this plane, I take my plane, I don't think there are families, it would be horrible. I only think about

No It's like a surgeon who really has your body in his hands."

And he adds: "When there are difficult moments because something goes wrong and you have to make a decision, if you think about taking 180 people, you don't move forward. What you have to take care of is the plane."

In her promotion there were seven women out of 40 students.

A woman in command

At Vueling,

Surely not all passengers welcome the fact that their plane is piloted by a woman.

"Reactions have changed a lot since I started in 2006 until today," she says.

"No one, of all the instructors I had, of all the commanders, cabin crew, etc., ever made a bad comment. When I was in my first company, in Turkey, I was 23 years old and they looked at me like oh how cute, how cute pretty, but no ugly comments."

Then he did have to hear things like

or crap of those that are no longer worn. However, now most say: 'Ah, she is a girl, how good,

And if I hear something derogatory, I tell him: 'I don't care, the one who can get off is you, I'm not going to get off'".

On one occasion, she remembers, on Air Lingus a passenger who assumed she was Irish said in Spanish: "Oh, a girl is running it, I don't know whether to get on it."

"I turned around and told him: 'I don't want to take nervous people on the plane,

to do so, I really don't want to make you suffer."

The landing

We approach Paris and after intuiting the silhouette of

Ginard tells the co-pilot: "I take control".

Except for the noise of the engines, not a fly is heard in the cabin, from where the landing strip can be seen clearly.

After the rigorous checks, phrases in English between the two of them and communication with the control tower, she super-focused makes a smooth landing.

While some passengers get off and others get on, we continue our conversation.

Although the trip with her seemed amazing to me, I ask her what this profession gives her: "I like it, period. What

I enjoy them and whenever I can I share them with the passenger I tell them to look at the Strait of Gibraltar, the Bay of Cádiz or the Ebro delta. But what I like the most is flying over the Alps, passing between Montblanc and the Matterhorn".

Pilot, co-pilot and crew review the flight data before boarding.David Ramírez

And the bad times?

"When there are little glitches that slow you down and I'm not able to explain that I'm doing everything I can and it's still not working. People don't care, they just want to get to their destination. If the delay is more than one hour I usually get out of the cabin and

I talk to them face to face".

leader of a team

And the thing is that few things stop Fátina Ginard, who as CEO of a company has to manage a team on a daily basis, "and that is very complicated," he says, "because every day is different. But I have it clear, when you are working You don't have to ask for things please,

Of course, when I ask the flight attendant for a coffee it's please, would you mind...".

"To be a good leader, you don't have to be nice, but it helps," she concludes.

If flying very high is a dream come true for Commander Ginard, she still has others to achieve.

She, who seems to be in her element when she flies, is also runner-up in Spain in skydiving, and aspires to be champion.

"And

I'm also very interested in sustainable aviation, which by hell has to be the future of aviation."

If today is Wednesday and Ginard flies to Paris and Basel, on Thursday she will take her plane to Rome and Lyon, on Friday to Palma and Lyon... Good flights, Commander!

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