When I think of imposter syndrome, I immediately think of Leonard DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can. And then I start looking over my shoulder to see who is going to come up to the cockpit and ask to see my credentials.

Looking back on my career I think my imposter syndrome comes from not having a 'solid' foundation like the regionals provide. I took the corporate track and skipped over that part of my career. At roughly 1100 hours I was flying in the right seat in a Citation X and I knew I didn't deserve that level of jet with my current level of experience.

Fast forward 5 years and I'm flying the Embraer Phenom Jet as a captain at JetSuite. One day after loading our passenger's luggage I climbed aboard to secure the aircraft door and my cheery passengers looked at me in half excitement and half disbelief and asked me, "Oh, you get to come with us?" Obviously they were confused and probably thought I was a company representative who was about to start serving drinks. I said something like, "I'm your captain on this flight so if you want to leave Las Vegas then yes, I am going with you; welcome aboard."

It's not that I think imposter syndrome is fake, I just wonder if it has to do more with the doubt we place on ourselves and the endless exclamations of everyone saying, "Oh my gosh! You're a pilot? Well you don't look like a pilot?" Amiright?

I interviewed 2 badass female pilots today and here are their responses when asked about imposter syndrome.

Susise Crespo, a KC-135 Aircraft Commander, doesn't relate with imposter syndrome and says, "We struggle with feelings of inadequacy because we are in a system that wasn’t created for women; there isn’t a lot of validation. The standards are not equivalent." And to that I say, absolutely YES!
Christine Albertson, an American Airlines 737 FO and C-17 Air Force reservist, says, "It relates back to confidence and how you got there. If you cheat your way or feel you don't deserve it then you may not feel you belong. But if you're confident in your accomplishments then there’s no reason to feel like you don’t belong!"

So I'll leave you with this final thought. You Belong. We Belong. Welcome Aboard.