Working in airline head offices brought Sigourney Ansah closer to aviation than she’d ever imagined – but close enough to realise the flight deck wasn’t beyond her reach. She shares how that journey has led her from commercial strategy to pilot training, and why – as a 2026–2028 DfT Aviation Ambassador – she’s determined to help others discover their own route into the industry.

My first job in aviation had nothing to do with flying.

I joined British Airways (BA) in revenue management; very much a head office role, very much behind the scenes. I was working with data, pricing, and commercial strategy. The aircraft were outside the window, not something I was anywhere near in a professional sense.

But being inside one of the world’s great airlines changes you. You start to understand how aviation works as an ecosystem. You see the scale of it. You meet people from every part of the operation. And somewhere along the way, a question starts forming that you can’t quite push away: what if I actually tried to fly one of those things?

I went on to work in a similar capacity at Virgin Atlantic. Still head office. Still behind the scenes. But the question was getting louder.

How it started…

I want to be honest about something: I didn’t grow up dreaming of being a pilot in the way you might expect. There was no single moment, no childhood memory of watching planes overhead and deciding that was it.

What I had instead was a growing realisation, shaped by years working inside the industry, that the cockpit was somewhere I was capable of getting to. And a parallel realisation that nobody in my immediate world had ever suggested it was a realistic option for someone like me.

I’m a Black British woman. When I was navigating career choices, the image of a commercial pilot looked nothing like me. That’s not a complaint; it’s just a fact. And it’s a fact that matters, because it shapes what young people believe is available to them before they’ve even started.

Working at British Airways and Virgin Atlantic gave me something I hadn’t expected: proximity. Proximity to the industry, to pilots, to the world of aviation training. Close enough to see that the path existed. Close enough to decide I was going to find my way onto it.

“When I was navigating career choices, the image of a commercial pilot looked nothing like me. That’s not a complaint; it’s just a fact. And it’s a fact that matters, because it shapes what young people believe is available to them before they’ve even started”

A bursary that opened the door

The Elevate Her Aviation x British Airways Flying Bursary was the moment things became real.

I was the first-ever recipient of that bursary, and what it gave me wasn’t just funding. It gave me access to experiences I hadn’t had before: going up in a light aircraft for the first time, gliding, and getting into a simulator.

Each of those experiences represented a different stage of the journey. The glider was the beginning, learning to feel an aircraft, to manage energy and respond to conditions with no engine to fall back on. The light aircraft was the middle, the freedom and the responsibility of powered flight. The simulator was the end point in view, the commercial flight deck, close enough to understand what I was working towards.

That combination was the foundation. It also propelled me to apply for further scholarships, and I’m very fortunate to now be completing my Private Pilot’s Licence this summer, as a 2026 HCAP PPL Scholar through the Honourable Company of Air Pilots.

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She Aviates UK: Showing the journey as it actually is

Alongside everything else, I founded She Aviates UK, a social media platform where I document my aviation journey as it happens. Not a highlights reel. The real thing.

The early decision was to be transparent about the process: the progress, the setbacks, the costs, the exam retakes, the scholarship applications that don’t come off and the ones that do. I thought that honesty might be useful to people in a similar position. What I didn’t anticipate was quite how much it would resonate.

She Aviates UK has become a community, particularly for young women and young women of colour who are curious about aviation but haven’t seen themselves reflected in it.

I receive messages regularly from people who say they didn’t think this industry was for someone like them, until they found the page. That’s not something I take lightly. It’s also, in a nutshell, why the Aviation Ambassador role matters so much to me.

“She Aviates UK has become a community, particularly for young women and young women of colour who are curious about aviation but haven’t seen themselves reflected in it”

What the Ambassador role means

Being appointed as a 2026–2028 DfT Aviation Ambassador in January 2026 felt significant. Not because of the title, but because of what it represents: a formal opportunity to do at scale what I had already been trying to do informally.

The Generation Aviation programme exists to widen participation in aviation. To make sure the next generation of pilots, engineers, air traffic controllers, operations specialists, and everyone else the industry needs, looks more like the full range of people that make up British society. That’s the objective. It’s a good one.

There are 10 of us in this cohort, from very different parts of the industry. That variety is part of the point. Aviation is not one career; it is hundreds of careers. And the more of us who are out there making that case, in schools, at events, online, the better.

“Aviation is not one career; it is hundreds of careers. And the more of us who are out there making that case, in schools, at events, online, the better”

What I actually want to build

My ambitions through the programme are practical as much as they are inspirational.

One thing I feel strongly about is that aviation careers are too often presented to young people as though ‘pilot’ is the only option worth aspiring to. The industry is enormous. Engineering, logistics, data science, sustainability, law, finance, air traffic management, cabin crew, airport operations: every one of those is a real career, with real progression, that young people deserve to know about.

I want to help create spaces, both online and physical, where young people can encounter the full spectrum of what aviation offers and meet the people who work in it.

I also want to tackle the knowledge gap: many young people from underrepresented backgrounds simply don’t know what a career in aviation requires, what qualifications, what pathways, what the costs look like. I want to help build accessible, practical resources that give young people a real sense of what different roles involve, and something tangible to show employers at the end of it.

And personally? I want to qualify. Getting my commercial pilot licence is the most powerful thing I can do in this role, not because of the achievement itself, but because of what it demonstrates: that the journey is completable, that the path is real, and that it is open to people who look like me.

“I want to help create spaces, both online and physical, where young people can encounter the full spectrum of what aviation offers and meet the people who work in it”

Selling the industry

I’m often asked why representation in aviation matters. The answer is straightforward.

When the only images of pilots a young person has ever seen look nothing like them, the barrier isn’t just financial or practical. It’s psychological. They don’t see themselves in the role, so they don’t consider it. They don’t consider it, so the industry stays exactly as it is.

Visibility changes that. She Aviates UK is trying to change that. The Ambassador programme is trying to change that.

Aviation is at a genuinely exciting moment. Workforce challenges, sustainability pressures, new technology: all of it creates new roles, new opportunities, and a real need for a wider talent pool. The industry cannot afford to keep drawing from a narrow slice of the population.

If we can show young people from every background that there is a place for them in this industry, and back that up with real pathways and real support, the rest should take care of itself.

I’m proud to be part of making that case.

If you’d like to connect, you can find me on LinkedIn or follow the journey at She Aviates UK.

READ MORE PROFILES FROM THE DFT’S AVIATION AMBASSADORS HERE AND WHAT THE ROLE MEANS TO THEM

DID YOU KNOW…

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The deadline for registrations is July 17, 2026