Draft:Lizette Padilla-Hernández

Captain Lizette Padilla's appreciation for flying started in 1977 after a demo flight in Universal Aviation in Isla Grande Airport located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She enrolled immediately in private lessons and 7 months later completed her training for the FAA Private Pilot certificate. She left the island in October of that year and graduated from the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to become a certified flight instructor and airline transport pilot.

In 1981 she became the first female Crown Air captain and the first female captain in Puerto Rico's history. Her love for Aviation initiated a plethora of different opportunities both on the island and the mainland. In 1982, Captain Lisette Padilla became Captain Lisette Padilla-Hernández after marrying Captain Humberto Hernández, American Airlines B-737 captain (retired), and later had three children, David and twins, Tania and Teannie.

In May 9th of 1996, Padilla joined the FAA with the San Juan Flight Standards Office becoming the first female Aviation Safety Inspector and Operations Principal Inspector before moving to Miami in 1999. Currently, Padilla holds her position as manager of the FAA Training Center Program for the Airbus Training Center and ATR Training Center.

She has completed the airline ratings of four Airbus aircraft: A-320, ( A-318, A-319 and A-321 ), A-330, A-340 and A-350, making her the only Puerto Rican female pilot and FAA inspector holding these aircraft ratings in her airline transport pilot certificates.