Alaskan Women in Aviation
The Alaskan aviation community is filled with magnificent women working in all areas of the industry. From pilots to mechanics and anywhere in between, these passionate women aviators don’t let anything get in their way of achieving their dreams.
Deb Ylijoki.
Deb's passion for aviation started over 10 years ago when she worked as a tour guide for a helicopter company in Juneau, Alaska. Since then, Deb's interest in aviation has grown exponentially. Currently, she is a flight follower with Pathfinder aviation while she's also training to get her commercial fixed wing license. While time and funding present as significant challenges to pursue training, she finds great value in the resilient and resourceful community here. "It's a fine balance of being patient and having perseverance." Deb stated. She has many aspirations for her aviation career; flying seaplanes, multi engine aircraft and eventually for a commercial airline. She continues to work incredibly hard to keep her dream of flying alive and help other women achieve the same.
Hattie Schmidtkunz.
Growing up in Sutton, Alaska, Hattie’s love for flying started when she was paragliding in her early 20s. One day when she was at Lake Lucille, she spotted a floatplane taking off and instantly knew she wanted to become a pilot. Hattie was working for the DOT most summers while pursuing her training in the winter to afford her flight lessons. In 2018, she was thrilled to finally receive her private pilot license. Battling self doubt has always been a challenge throughout her journey, but she continues to overcome that obstacle and make big strides everyday. She recognizes all the women aviators before her who worked endlessly to create more opportunities for women today. “I definitely appreciate all the women who’ve come before me and helped pave the way” Hattie said. Presently, she works as a certificated flight instructor (CFI) and office manager at Land and Sea Aviation. Her biggest joy is sharing love for aviation with others and having those experiences together.
Bianca Riess.
Bianca made her dream come true in January, 2024 when she became a first officer with Delta Air Lines. “I always knew that the airlines were my goal, it was just a matter of how am I going to get there.” Coming from a family of aviators, Bianca was ecstatic to follow in her parents’ footsteps. Her father, who was a pilot for American Airlines, started his journey by joining the military. Bianca had the assumption this was the only pathway in order to become a pilot and was unfamiliar with what that path entailed, which prompted her to start law school. While in school, Bianca’s two younger sisters started their flight training and helped her realize there was another way to reach her goal. She decided to take a leave of absence from law school and switched to a nine month accelerated program to earn her pilot licenses. Eventually, a connection through a friend led Bianca to Alaska, where she started building time here to become an airline pilot. Presently, Bianca is living her dream traveling the world by flying for Delta. Her favorite part of the job is being immersed with the people around her and making new connections. Bianca plans to become more involved in recruitment and focus on being a mentor for others, after she takes some time to soak in her new role that she worked tenaciously for.
Brooke Botha.
Brooke’s passion for flying began at an early age in Hawaii where she was raised. Brooke and her mom would spend time watching gliders together at their hometown airport in Oahu. At four years old, her mom took her on a glider flight and Brooke knew in that moment, she was going to become a pilot. Brooke completed her training at Baylor University in Texas, while also competing on a D1 track team and doing school full time. After her sophomore year, she traveled to Talkeetna, Alaska to get her float rating. During that time, Brooke realized she was going to find her way back to Alaska and pursue her goal of flying floatplanes. “In Alaska, you truly have the freedom of flight” Brooke stated. During Brooke’s final year of school, she found a job opening at Blue River Aviation in Alaska and made her move to work there full time as a certified flight instructor (CFI). Brooke’s long term aviation goal is to become an Aerial firefighter flying a super scooper and fighting fires nationwide. Today, Brooke is a CFII/MEI and plans to continue working on her ratings, building hours, and having a ton of fun while doing it.
Carrollea Hubbard.
Carrollea is a professor at the aviation technology building with the University of Anchorage Alaska (UAA). Her background started in engineering when she attended UA in Tucson, Arizona. While working near the airport one day, she saw a space shuttle on top of a 747 flying over and said to herself “I’m going to work for an airline someday.” She later moved to Los Angeles where she started working for a small commuter airline as an apprentice mechanic and aircraft parts manager. Simultaneously, she started her longstanding career with FedEx. Carrollea was thrilled to be transferred to Alaska where she continued working full time for FedEx while attending UAA. During her time there she successfully received her airframe and power plant (A&P) license, associates, bachelor and masters degrees. Carrollea continued a joyful career as a senior AMT with FedEx for 31 years, before going back to teaching at UAA in 2022. Today, Carrollea teaches all of the electronics courses, and occasionally propellers and welding. She finds great joy in seeing her students gain confidence in themselves and excel in their studies. Carrollea plans to continue teaching where she can help students pursue their aviation goals, just as she did at the same school. “I love teaching and that’s all that matters.”
