Kirsty Murphy joined The Blades Aerobatic Team in 2016 following a 17-year career in the Royal Air Force (RAF). She was selected to be the first female pilot to fly with the world-famous Red Arrows – RAF’s Aerobatic Team— and had participated in more than 100 public displays and flypasts in about a dozen countries. She also served as a flying instructor after completing her flying training on the Tucano and the Hawk T1, and flew operational sorties in Iraq. She follows in the footsteps of many great female aviators amidst a still largely male-dominated career. In this podcast, host Rachael Everard explores Kirsty’s reasons for joining the military and the value of teamwork, diversity, and collaboration. Kirsty opens up on challenges she faced to reach the skies in her career, and how reliance and persistence to achieve goals helped her succeed. She also discusses her experiences as an ambassador, encouraging young women to take up flying, and as an engineer who promotes Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in schools. She shares her interests in innovations in aviation to help deliver a more sustainable mode of transport in the future.