Being a pilot has to be one of the most impressive jobs going. There's the years of required training, the heaps of responsibility and, of course, the travel to often exotic, far-flung locations.
And it seems we're extremely curious to know what a pilot's life actually looks like – is it as glamorous as it sounds?
Eser Aksan Erdogan, 31, a pilot for Turkey's low-cost Pegasus Airlines, has amassed more than 40,000 followers by documenting her jet-setting lifestyle on Instagram.
Erdogan has been a pilot for three years and flies a Boeing 737 aircraft to locations in Europe and the Middle East. She regularly posts selfies from the cockpit wearing her uniform and snaps from the picturesque locations she visits for work.
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By giving people a glimpse into her daily life on the job, Erdogan has helped to highlight the fact that there are very few female pilots – just 5,000, according to The Daily Mirror.
Erdogan recalled a memorable shift in which she and her female co-pilot landed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where women are banned from driving cars. The ground operations crew were surprised to see them, she said.
"After landing they [ground operations] didn't give us a hard time but we were certainly popular. A group of ground workers was staring at us like they've never seen girls fly before."
It was a "childhood dream" to be a pilot, Erdogan said. "I was kind of a tomboy so I always wanted to fly an F16, but since I'm against war, violence and armies, flying big jets is so much better,” she told the Mirror, adding that her parents were both scared of flying.
"The eternal blue of the sky, fluffy clouds and the ability to visit countries far, far away have always had a big attraction on me,” she said.
Erdogan has visited nearly 50 countries and her favourite locations include the Seychelles, which reminds her of her marriage, Rio for carnival and Tanzania for safari. She also recommends Marrakech, the Cote d'Azur, Cappadocia in Turkey and Australia's east coast, the Mirror reported.
However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, as the extended periods of travel can take a toll on her personal life. Luckily, her husband Volkan, 33, is also a pilot and the pair are sometimes able to synchronise their schedules so they can travel the world as a unit and document their travels online.
Despite the difficulties and the long hours of studying required, Erdogan urged more women and girls to consider a career as a pilot. “Be prepared for hard weather conditions, red-eye flights, very long duty hours up to a maximum of 14 to 16 hours and a lot of hotel rooms,” she told the Mirror.
"There have been days when I woke up and didn't know my location for a minute. You will miss a lot of birthdays, special occasions and anniversaries, you will lose a lot of friends, but in return you get the most colourful, awesome job with lots of travelling – and did I mention you have the best office view in the world?”
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