November 16, 2017

Katia Yanina Cortés carries piloting in her DNA. Daughter of a retired pilot who flew all over the world several times, she is 28 years old and became one of the first women that flew a helicopter in the country exactly a year ago, but also the first one in the Relámpagos del Estado de México’s group, an aerial rescue unit in the state which has become internationally famous due to its interventions in disasters and accidents in order to save lives.

Katia was born in Cholula, Puebla, she is deputy officer in flights for rescue and support. She studied in Veracruz and the switch from traditional studying to piloting a rescue helicopter took at least 100 hours of effective flying, passing exams and other requirements as well that, till that moment, used to be almost exclusive for men.

Cortés became “airplane pilot superior technician”, a diploma gotten in the Escuela de Aviación México (aviation school of Mexico), and says that she knew she would be a pilot after she explored other careers such as International businesses or Communications and realized that none of them were fulfilling for her.

Her father, Filiberto Cortés, an experienced pilot that accomplished all the levels in this hard and dangerous career, tried to make her desist on her aspiration for a whole year but at the end, he didn’t just accept her natural vocation that was inspired by him but he supported her so she could start her flight to reach her own dreams.

She remembers that her dad pays her first piloting license, but the second one, which is needed to get into the working market, was paid by her while she was working as a flight attendant, so, while she was studying and working, she completed the required flying hours in order to get graduated and she made it last year.

Listening to Katia talking about her first experiences in piloting an aircraft that can reach a speed of 250 miles per hour and a height of 15,000 ft is overwhelming. Female sensibility, taken into a field which is generally considered as male ground, unveils new ways to address the aeronautical issue.

We asked her which her sensory experience was in her first flight of practice. Her face changes, her eyes travel to a horizon that she only knows and then she starts describing that day in which her tutor, Jorge Cordero, elevates the aircraft and leaves it still, suspended in the air, then he releases the control and allows Yanina to take it, she experiences for the first time piloting.

However, she considers that the flight that made her a pilot was the one that she had to do for 60 minutes, completely on her own, it was like a getting graduated on her own, just the sky and her.

After finishing the school she was invited to join to Relámpagos via an old friend who saw her one day in an ad called “Hechas en México” (made in Mexico), which distinguishes the women that have stand out in different areas. That friend told her that there would be a vacancy for a pilot in the air unit of the state’s government and he persuaded her to send her documents to compete for the job. She got it.

Since then, Katia has taken part in at least 10 aerial rescues and in many emergency calls, carrying patients to hospitals or transporting organs destined to transplants. All of the missions are delicate and all of them are taken with the strictest protocols in aerial safety.

At the Relámpagos aerial unit, Katia has managed to become part of the crew, as it is supposed to be, she doesn’t receive any kind of special treatment and she even participates in the soccer matches that her colleagues organize during their free time, because it is worth to mention that she practiced high resistance athletics and she even participated in the 2009 Pentathlon national Olympics.

And if all of this hasn’t been enough, she was Miss Cholula, in Puebla, because she has proved that beauty isn’t against courage and intelligence.

Tere Montaño