A 23 year-old Brisbane woman has been recognised as Australia's highest performing female trainee professional pilot.

Jacqueline Holmes has won a special award from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Australian Women Pilots Association for outstanding academic achievement in professional aviation studies over the past year.

Jacqueline, who is close to gaining her Air Transport Pilots Licence, is studying at Flight Training Australia at Archerfield in Brisbane. She says winning the Sir Donald Anderson Trophy for academic performance in aviation studies is a real thrill.

“I've always wanted to be a pilot but never believed I'd be able to get this far, let alone win an award like this,” Jacqueline says.

“I've been studying and training since late 2004 and I've now only got two flights to go to get my instrument rating and a little more work to do to get my instructors rating.

“After that I'm hopeful of getting work as an instructor, with my ultimate goal being to fly airliners.”

CASA and the Australian Women Pilots Association chose Jacqueline as this year's winner of the Sir Donald Anderson Trophy because of her remarkable progress in aviation study and training during the last year. CASA's head of safety promotion, David Pattie, says Jacqueline passed all three levels of pilot examinations in a little over 12 months.

“Jacqueline passed her private, commercial and air transport pilot exams, as well as the command instrument rating exam, in a relatively short period of time and achieved very high pass marks.

“She is obviously extremely dedicated to her aviation studies and is a worthy winner of the Trophy.”

The Sir Donald Anderson Trophy is awarded each year to the woman pilot who is judged to have made the best progress towards professional aviation qualifications.

It commemorates a man who made a distinguished contribution to Australian aviation after World War II, holding the position of Director-General of Civil Aviation for almost 17 years.

FMI: www.casa.gov.au