Meet the female airline pilot who has turned the ‘dumb blonde’ stereotype upside down

With 333,000 subscribers on YouTube and 323,000 followers on Instagram, Michelle Gooris, aka DutchPilot Girlis definitely a social media star on paper.

But she says she doesn’t feel that way, that she “feels like a pilot telling/sharing my story to the world and trying to inspire other people.”

And by all accounts, she’s doing great.

Michelle, 31, is a Boeing 737 pilot for a Dutch airline who posts fascinating, tightly produced cockpit view videos from some of her flights, complete with on-screen explanations of what the pilots are doing and observing. In addition, interesting geography is indicated below.

Her followers clearly appreciate the effort she puts in, describing her images as “informative,” “appealing,” and “beautifully made.”

Michelle, a gorgeous blonde, also turns the “dumb blonde” stereotype upside down.

She tells MailOnline Travel: ‘Sometimes people don’t expect (women) to be pilots, but that only applies to people outside the aviation industry. In my company I feel like I’m treated like one of the guys. I have never experienced being taken seriously or open sexism. I’ve heard other stories from other women, though, so I won’t say it doesn’t happen at all.’

Women are a distinct minority in the pilot community, but does she feel the glass ceiling has weakened for them?

Michelle, who lives in Amsterdam, says: ‘We are indeed in the minority, but I do see improvement. Today there are more female pilots than ever, so I think we’re on the right track. I don’t feel that progressing in the aviation industry is more difficult as all the exams and tests are the same. It all comes down to seniority and gender won’t speed things up or slow them down.’

MailOnline first spoke to Michelle six years ago when her social media videos went viral. And they still attract a large number of clicks.

Michelle says landing is her favorite part of the flight as a pilot — and she recently posted a great video of one op airport Keflavik in Iceland, with the footage having been viewed 515,000 times to date.

And a companion starting video from the same airport has been viewed 214,000 times to date.

Michelle, who has been a pilot for 10 years, describes Iceland as ‘an epic place for the most mind-blowing road trips, spotting the Northern Lights, trekking to a glacier or volcano, blue lagoons and much more’.

Another popular video on her YouTube channel shows an alien landing Greek island of Santorini.

To the untrained eye it looks like a tricky landing, with the runway right next to the sea.

But landing there is daily fare for Michelle.

She says, “The runway is shorter than normal and there is terrain nearby, but it is not considered difficult to land there.”

While there she likes to “hire a quad bike to explore” and “grab a frappe while visiting places like Fira and Imerovigli.”

‘You can find me in Oia to watch the beautiful sunsets!’ she adds.

She certainly deserved the downtime.

You can find Michelle on YouTube at www.youtube.com/@DutchPilotGirl and on Instagram at dutch pilot girl. In 2018, Michelle published an eBook called Become an airline pilot. For more visit michellegoris. com.