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British woman, 26, becomes ‘world’s youngest airline captain’

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Meet Kate McWilliams — the woman that may well be the world’s youngest commercial airline captain.

At just 26, the British pilot looks to have broken previous records, according to easyJet, which she flies with.

McWilliams, originally from Carlisle, admits that she is quizzed almost daily about her age by cabin crew and passengers — who are “pleasantly surprised and impressed” when they find out.

After beginning flying aged aged 13 in the air cadets, she took a place on a training programme at CTC Aviation in Southampton on her 19th birthday.

She joined easyJet as a first officer in 2011, and recently became a captain.

After the move, the Luton-based company decided to investigate whether or not this makes McWilliams the world’s youngest — and they believe it does.

McWilliams said: “Personally I don’t think my age matters. I’ve been through the same training and passed the same command course as every other captain so I’ve proven myself capable regardless of my age.”

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McWilliams started flying age 13 (PA)

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She lives in Reigate, Surrey and is based at Gatwick airport, where she flies Airbus A319 and A320 planes to about 100 destinations, including Reykjavik, Tel Aviv and Marrakech.

“With Gatwick having such an extensive route network my roster is very varied so I rarely fly to the same place twice in the same month,” she said.

“That keeps things interesting.”

Last year easyJet announced an initiative to double the proportion of new female entrants to 12 per cent over two years. Just 5 per cent of commercial pilots are women.

McWilliams said that growing up she “never even thought it could be an option” to become a commercial pilot.

“I love being a commercial pilot for easyJet, and I am proud that I have now achieved my ambition of becoming a captain,” she added.