Mum And Daughter Pilot Team Go Viral For 'Inspiring Young Women'

A mother and daughter have gone viral thanks to a photo of them sitting at the flight deck of a plane that was posted online - just after they had flown the Delta Boeing 757 from Los Angeles to Atlanta together.

Capt. Wendy and First Officer Kelly Rexon had caught the attention of Dr. John R Watret, the Chancellor of the Embry-Riddle Worldwide Campus, who had also been aboard the flight.

Dr. Watret then tweeted an image of the mother-daughter tag-team in action.

via GIPHY

"Just flew from LAX to ATL on Delta piloted by this mother daughter flight crew," Dr. Watret wrote.

"Great flight. Inspiring for [young] women."

Initially, Watret had said the sight was inspiring for 'you women', but later clarified that this had been a typo.

It seems Twitter was equally as inspired as Dr. Watret had been, as his tweet has since racked up more than 42,000 likes and 16,000 retweets.

"I don't tweet a lot," said Dr. Watret, who was on a trip home after visiting a campus for Embry-Riddle - an aeronautical university - in Singapore.

"On Sunday morning, my phone was blowing up."

Dr. Watret explained Embry-Riddle is committed to creating more opportunities for women in all areas of the aviation industry, meaning the viral tweet meant a lot to him and the university.

"There has to be more diversification in the industry," he said.

"It's crucial and one of the key factors we focus on. When there are more opportunities, everyone wins."

PA

He had found out about the all-female pilot dream team when a woman boarding the aircraft had asked a flight attendant if her children could visit the flight deck.

"The flight attendant said they could - and that they would be surprised," Dr. Watret said.

He then overheard the two kids talking about the 'mother and daughter' flying the plane, which was when he decided to see if he could go and meet the Rexons as well.

"I thought that was amazing. I was in awe," he said.

"I asked if I could visit them, too."

Dr. Watret then tweeted the photo of Wendy and Kelly after the flight arrived in Atlanta on Saturday night.

And in an even better twist, it turns out Kelly Rexon's sister is a pilot, too.

Topics: Pilot, News, Family, US News, travel

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman