Jet Boss

Captain Savino is not here to serve coffee, she is here to deliver something stronger: perspective, honesty, and a tribute to the women who flew before her. Laura Savino was a middle-child, in a middle-class family, from the middle of New Jersey – by the age of twenty-five she was flying around the world in a Boeing 747 as a pilot for United Airlines.

Captain Savino invites you onto the flight deck for a candid and often comical journey through the skies of gender expectations. From being mistaken for the flight attendant while seated in her captain’s seat, to tucking away sun visors designed for someone a full foot taller, to filling out the “females only” section on pilot applications- she reveals the outdated assumptions and challenges still buffeting women at 35,000 feet.

Hear her story: the setbacks, the rejection and the long road it took to keep showing up to buck the status quo. From being an underestimated outsider, to being in command of one of the most complex machines on earth, Captain Savino lays out the blueprint for defying expectations. But her journey isn’t just about boundaries broken. After a catastrophic injury left her with a broken neck and grounded dreams, she fought her way back to the cockpit for a second chance, defying near impossible odds after everything fell apart.

Captain Savino makes one thing clear: We’ve come far, but the ceiling isn’t glass… it’s steel and pressurized. Buckle up. It’s going to be an enlightening ride.

Author Biography

Captain Laura Savino was a pilot on the B777, B767, B757, B747, B737, A319 and A320 with United Airlines. Laura flew for Eastern and Pan Am regionals before that. On her way to becoming a commercial airline pilot, she worked as an instrument flight instructor, charter pilot, freight pilot, aerial sightseeing tour pilot, ferry pilot and aircraft repossessor. She has flown planes as tiny as a car and widebody aircraft larger than a football field. Laura’s Eastern and Pan Am uniforms have been accessioned into the National Collections and Archives of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Her United Airlines maternity uniform will be on display at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, (ATL) in the Blue Skies: Breaking Barriers exhibit. Learning to fly as a teenager at Morristown Municipal Airport (MMU) in New Jersey, Laura continued her aviation education at Purdue University, graduating with an AS in Applied Science and a BS in Aviation Technology. Laura is currently a member of the Purdue University School of Aviation & Transportation Technology Industrial Advisory Board. Bringing her love of flying and family to the pages, Laura’s memoir JET BOSS, A Female Pilot on Taking Risks and Flying High, is featured in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. As an award winning author, her inspirational stories can also be found in three editions of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, published by Simon & Schuster – Be You, The Magic of Cats and Attitude of Gratitude. Laura is the Chairman for the Old Dominion chapter of the Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots. She is an active member of the International Society of Women Airline Pilots (ISA+21), Women in Aviation International (WAI), the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and Smokehouse Pilots Club, where she lives in Virginia with her two sons, two cats and a lizard.Laura is now in the position to be the mentor she wished she knew as a young pilot entering the aviation industry. Enthusiastic to help others find their place in STEM fields – and to encourage every person at every stage of their life, to never sell themselves short.