By: Amar Persaud
Paula McAdam, 68, and her colleague Sandra Persaud who is also in her sixties, are the country’s first female air traffic control officers – joining the largely male-domination field of aviation in the 70s.
They have now become two icons in Guyanese history and are considered pioneers in the local aviation industry.
McAdam served in the aviation sector for almost 48 years, starting her career at 19 when she joined the then Civil Aviation Department on October 1, 1973 as an air traffic control assistant.
In an interview with INews, McAdam explained that she never imagined joining the aviation sector.
“While growing up I knew that I was not interested in a what was then considered a traditional job. But I was not sure what I wanted to do. In fact, after high school, I enrolled at the Government Technical Institute and completed a course in Cartographic Drawing, with the intention of moving on to land surveying,” she recalled.
“This, however, was not to be. With regard to civil aviation, I must confess that I did not know much about the sector, but I had a good friend who was in the air traffic services sector, and he encouraged me to apply. I was excited by what he described and took the opportunity,” McAdam related.
In 1979, McAdam was officially appointed an air traffic control officer.
“My first significant occupation in the sector was attained after successfully completing a period of rigorous training that included classroom, simulator, and on-the-job-training. I was appointed Air Traffic Control Officer on 19th April 1979. This appointment represented a major achievement for me as I became Guyana’s first female air traffic control officer!” McAdam expressed.
As an air traffic control officer, McAdam said explained that there were many misconceptions about her daily duties.
“The air traffic control officer is not the persons who waves flags at aircraft on the ground. We work in the tallest building seen at most airports and we are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring the safety of aircraft while in flight or operating on the ground, during our duty periods,” she outlined.
Throughout her career in aviation, McAdam went on to accomplish great feats.
“In 1984, I was appointed Senior air traffic control officer with responsibility for the oversight and smooth day-to-day operations of all air traffic services operations in Guyana, in order to ensure that all air traffic operating in the Guyana airspace were allowed to do so in a safe, orderly and expeditious manner.”
“In 1986, I was appointed as assistant aviation inspector for licensing. In this position, I was required to assist with matters related to licensing of aviation personnel, including invigilation and marking of examination papers and carried out checks for issue and renewal of aviation licenses for pilots, engineers and air traffic controllers.”
‘In 1992, I became aviation inspector for aerodromes. I was responsible for development, maintenance and licensing of aerodromes throughout Guyana.”
In 2002, the civil aviation department became a semi-autonomous body – the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). With this change, McAdam was appointed the first Director of Aviation for safety regulation of the GCAA.
Asked about her favourite memory so far working in aviation, McAdam said it was definitely being able to fulfil her dreams of travelling.
“Being in the sector facilitated my love of travel. During my tenure with civil aviation in Guyana, I was afforded professional training opportunities in all areas of civil aviation, not only in Guyana but also in the United Kingdom, Canada, USA, Singapore, USSR, China, Curacao, Mexico, Peru and Argentina, and various States in the Caribbean.”
McAdam noted too that there were challenges in her earlier years, given that the industry was mostly dominated by men.
“When I first joined the sector, it took me quite a while to become accustomed to being in an all-male environment. I did experience some unwanted attention initially, but quickly learned how to counteract this. One disadvantage was the lack of female role models on the job, so both I and the other female who joined at the same time had to learn to cope with sometimes aggressive situations by ourselves,” McAdam related.
Another challenge for McAdam was balancing her career with her family life but she was able to successfully navigate the difficulties and overcome whatever obstacles came in her way.
Being among the first women in aviation, McAdam is pleased to see more female joining the industry. However, she believes there is still more room for more women to come onboard.
“Over the years, the sector has benefitted from more women in all areas of the industry. Undoubtedly, I have also found that women generally put in far greater effort than men and we do make more sacrifices than men are prepared to make to perform our assigned tasks successfully,” McAdam said.
Persaud’s story is very similar. She joined the aviation sector at 21 at the same time as McAdam. She was the other first female air traffic control officer.
“I joined because I dreamt of flying as a child and just loved aircraft and the brain stimulation of being an air traffic controller,” she explained during an interview with this publication.
“I started out as assistant air traffic controller and then migrated to Barbados for a year in 1977, returned in 1978 to train as an air traffic controller…and was one of two air traffic controllers who were the first women in the field,” she explained.
Persaud was also the first woman in airport management at the then Timehri International Airport which is now the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
When she first migrated to Barbados, Persaud worked in an aviation-related field, operating the weather radar at the Caribbean Meteorological Institute to produce scans for the Seawell International Airport.
Persaud related that the field came with good experiences as well as challenges similar to McAdam’s.
“It was a good experience being a female in aviation, in a male dominant field, however it came with its challenges because I was a young mom and wife, so work/life balance was an issue in terms of excelling in the field and being just as good as or better than in the exams, in the training, in the performance at work and also navigating the various shifts because it was a 24/7 job,” she recalled.
“It was a good experience because I think it equipped me for anything else that I decided to do in any other career or line of studies because it keeps the brain mentally sharp and alert, and quick-thinking, decision-making, accuracy, no margin for errors, so I totally enjoyed the experience,” she stated.
After working in aviation for some ten years, Persaud before moving on to other ventures.
However, she says this is her time is aviation was perhaps the best career she has experienced.
“It’s by far the best career that I had and I’ve some in three different countries.”
Reflecting on some of her fondest memories, Persaud detailed “my favourite memories are those of watching an aircraft landing at night lining for the final approach to land with the lights full on and landing safely on the runway and then watching it taxi with the engines revving.”
Persaud said she also loved watching “the smaller executives’ jets take off and climb vertically and to me that was an amazing thing.”
She too encouraged women to join the aviation sector.
“I would encourage other women definitely to join the sector being fully aware of the demands of the job and my advice would be to ensure that those people who share their personal lives understand the demands of the jobs and that they understand and will be supportive of over the long-term.”
