Andrea Cruz Hernández

First woman admitted to Mexico's Colegio del Aire (Air Force flight academy) military pilot program

Andrea Cruz Hernández, from Oaxaca, became a historic first when Mexico's Colegio del Aire — the Air Force's flight training academy — admitted her as its first woman cadet, following 2007 legislation that opened previously male-only military aviation roles to women. Getting there meant being the test case for a policy change, entering a training environment that had never before included a woman. On January 27, 2009, she completed her first solo flight, roughly 30 minutes long, flying under the callsign "Venus." She earned her official pilot's wings on March 14, 2009. She went on to complete a full academic program, earning a degree in Military Sciences with a specialization as a Pilot Aviator from the Universidad del Ejército y la Fuerza Aérea on August 24, 2011. Her story is not as extensively documented in the years since as some other pioneers — most available coverage clusters around her training and graduation between 2009 and 2011 — but what's documented is significant: she was the literal first woman to walk through a door that Mexican military aviation had kept closed until legislation forced it open, and she followed through by actually completing the training and earning her wings.

As a Colegio del Aire cadet, she went through the same demanding military flight training as her male counterparts — academic coursework, physical training, and progressive flight instruction — as the first woman to do so in that specific program.

Her path through formal military flight training — ground school, supervised flight hours, a checkride-style wings ceremony — mirrors the structured progression every student pilot follows, military or civilian.

Her first solo flight callsign was "Venus."She was admitted to Mexico's Air Force flight academy as a direct result of 2007 legislation opening previously restricted military roles to women.

Sources disagree on the aircraft used for her first solo flight — Spanish Wikipedia states a Beechcraft Bonanza F33-C, while some news coverage refers to a Pilatus PC-7.

Spanish Wikipedia, citing El Universal, La Jornada

• Andrea Cruz Hernández