At the age of nine, Paola Velasco flew with her mother from Bolivia to Lima in Peru, then onward via American Airlines to Miami, Florida.
The experience changed the course of Bolivian-born Velasco’s life, igniting an aviation passion and prompting her to pursue a pilot career in a country where nearly all airline pilots were and are men.
“That’s when I decided I was going to be a pilot,” says Velasco, now aged 36. “I wanted to do this the rest of my life.”
In the years since, Velasco, born in the central Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, has shattered gender biases and forged a path for Bolivia’s other female pilots. By 2012, at the age of 23, she was flying Boeing 747-400s across the Atlantic Ocean, and in 2014 she became the Bolivian commercial airline industry’s first female pilot in command.
Velasco was still in high school when her father, an auto-parts importer, helped arrange for her to take a 1h introductory flight. “Maybe my parents thought that I was going to be disappointed, but it was just the opposite,” she says. “I wanted to do more.”
She got down to business. In January 2006, fresh out of high school, Velasco began working toward her private pilot license at flight academy Proboal, at Santa Cruz’s El Trompillo airport. She held that license within three months, and by year-end had secured her commercial pilot license and instrument and multi-engined ratings.
She was ready to join an airline.
RAPID RISE
Velasco did not wait long. In 2007, aged 18, she landed a 727 flight engineer job at Bolivian carrier AeroSur, initially flying domestic routes from Santa Cruz. Fast-growing AeroSur soon sent her to cities like Havana, Miami, New York and Washington. Within two years, she upgraded to first officer (FO) on AeroSur’s 737-200s, then to FO on 737-300s.
“It’s like living in a movie,” Velasco says of those years. “Pinch me.”
Not everyone was ready to accept that such a young woman was advancing so quickly in the traditionally masculine pilot career.
Velasco says she faced scepticism and pushback from co-workers. Some older pilots could hardly believe they were flying beside such a young woman. Surprisingly, some female flight attendants took issue, criticising her landings and complaining to AeroSur’s management.
“It was shocking for them because I was 18 years old when I started,” she says. “I could expect these things from the men, but from women – that really hurt me.”
A manager even assigned company observers to supervise Velasco without her knowledge; they jump-seated on her flights, she says. “It was like people on your same team trying to hurt you.”
But Velasco’s career was just heating up. Soon AeroSur acquired 747s, and she found herself as FO on the 747-400, flying from Bolivia to Madrid.
“It takes your breath out when you [see] the size of that machine,” she says. “I can’t believe it happened.”
That chapter proved short lived. AeroSur shut down in 2012. Velasco’s last flight as a 747-400 FO was also her check ride: “I just got the type rating. It was like giving me candy and then putting it away.”
Next, she signed on with Boliviana de Aviacion – or BoA – as that airline’s first female FO, again flying 737-300s. In 2014, Velasco upgraded to become a BoA pilot in command. She was the first woman to hold that job in Bolivia’s commercial aviation industry.
The gravity of the accomplishment and the associated responsibility struck her. “The passengers wanted to meet me, wanted to talk to me, wanted to take pictures,” she says.
More importantly, Velasco was leading by example; other female pilots were following in her footsteps.
POSITIVE STEPS
“I see more and more women in this [profession],” she says. “I was the first and the only one. So it’s really nice to see a change.”
Velasco soon captained the first BoA flight operated by an all-female onboard crew and supported by an all-women ground crew. BoA chief Ronald Casso helped organise the flight as part of the UN-supported HeForShe gender-equality campaign.
Despite professional successes, Velasco could not run from a medical condition that disrupted her career. For several years she had suffered from inner-ear barotrauma, which is common among pilots and associated with frequent pressure changes. Despite treatment, the condition forced her out of the skies in 2022. She took a job as an instructor in flight simulators.
“I had to stop doing what I really loved, and what I was doing for my whole life. It was difficult to stay grounded,” she says.
Life took a happier turn this year. Velasco left the instructor job after becoming pregnant with her first child: she expects to give birth in March 2025. “I am experiencing another phase of myself – the motherhood and feminine side.”
Velasco fully intends to return to aviation, but in what capacity remains unclear. Accident investigation work and ground-based flight operations jobs are possibilities.
But Velasco still feels pulled to the skies. She can envision returning to long-haul transatlantic flying, which would be less aggravating than short-haul flights for her inner-ear problem.
“I would love to return, because I can’t imagine doing something else,” she says. “There is no bigger reward than doing what you are passionate about. There is nothing in this world that feels the same.”
