Captain Laura Smith: Leading the Way
by Betsy Jordan Donovan, Careers Committee

Captain Laura Smith's aviation career began after college in Sanford, Maine. While flight instructing, Laura received the Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship which enabled her to get her multi-engine rating. Later she was a charter pilot on the Beechcraft 1900, and in 1999 Laura was hired by SkyWest Airlines where she flew the EMB-120 Brasilia and is now a Canadair CRJ captain.

In her aviation career, Laura has been involved with five different 99s chapters, one of which she help found, the Katahdin Wings Chapter, and two of which she served as chapter chair. Presently she is treasurer and scholarship chairman of the Utah Chapter, and a member of the International Careers Committee, where she leads the new 99s Professional Pilot Leadership Initiative (PPLI), a mentoring and leadership program for women pursuing pilot careers.

"The most substantive value of the PPLI program is to help our members get mentored by and develop a more extensive network with women professional pilots," Laura says. "The encouragement and enthusiasm of amazing women pilots in The Ninety-Nines made a big difference in my own career, and I want to pass that on to others."