Established in 1913, The Royal Thai Air Force has never accepted women until now. The five women beginning their training on Wednesday included two civilians and three non-combat members of the Air Force.
Sireethorn Lawansatian and Chonnisa Supawannapong are required to go through a month of military training in addition to pilot training, but both have already acquired their licenses. Mashable reports that the Thai Office of Civil Aviation has given 5,000 men commercial pilot licenses since 2003, but only 92 women have obtained them in the last 13 years.
Karnchanok Janyarak and Chanakarn Sornjarn’s positions were in the Air Force’s education department, while Peerasri Jalpaisarn worked in the financial and welfare office. All five women are now in Bangkok, where they will take a year-long training program at Wing 6 Air Force headquarters. After that, it sounds like they’ll mostly be assigned to flying transport aircraft and helicopters. But who knows? The sky’s the limit.
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