Symertha Bridgewater-Moore – 25 years & counting in the aviation sector

On December 7, Guyana joined the rest of the world in observing World Aviation Day, 2022. Over the years, the aviation section has evolved and would have seen more women taking up some of the toughest jobs.
In Guyana, women have become more interested in the aviation section whether at the level of the control towers or working from behind the scenes. Today, we would like to recognise these women who have played an integral role in changing the aviation landscape.

One such woman is Symertha Bridgewater-Moore, who joined the Aviation fraternity in 1997. In July 2015, she became the first female air traffic controller in Guyana to be successfully trained and licensed in Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) in Enroute Air Traffic Control.
Today she is the most senior female in the Air Navigation Services Department within the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority and holds the position of an Area Control Centre Supervisor. She is tasked with supervising the operations of the Area Control Centre located at the Timehri Control Tower, ensuring air traffic services are provided with the established policies, standards and procedures of the International Civil Aviation Organisation and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority.
Throughout the last 25 years, she has successfully completed training as an Air Traffic Control Assistant, Aerodrome and Approach licensed Air Traffic Controller and an Area Procedural and Surveillance licensed Air Traffic Controller.
Bridgewater-Moore hails from Soesdyke on the East Bank of Demerara and is a former student of Christ Church Secondary School. She is a graduate of the University of Guyana with a Bachelor of Science in Public Management.
She has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience in air traffic control and aircraft search and rescue operations within this dynamic aviation sector.

Over the years, when people ask her what she does, and she responded, “Air Traffic Controller” their response would be, “Oh you are the person that is on the ground giving the pilots signals how to park the aircraft on the airport tarmac”.
She would then explain that her role is to monitor the aircraft on a surveillance screen and control them by speaking to them on a frequency through a headset, providing them with instructions to keep them safely separated from other aircraft and obstructions.
Her role is literally to be the voice in the pilot’s headset. Other times, she would receive comments like, “Why you didn’t become a pilot “and her response would be, “Why control one aircraft when I can control all of them?”. Air traffic controllers work assiduously in the background to ensure that passengers and cargo are moved safely and expeditiously from Point A to Point B.
Air traffic control has been known as a male-dominated field; however, it doesn’t mean that women cannot dominate the challenge. Throughout her years in air traffic control, she was always the only female in all her training courses.
Today this is changing and there is almost 50/50 in every batch. Bridgewater-Moore encouraged women to pursue any career in aviation. It requires you to love what you do, hard work, being disciplined and determined.
The feeling she gets from controlling and separating aircraft and ensuring the airspace is manned safely, efficiently, and expeditiously is simply exhilarating. A poem that she tries to live by is “Desiderata by Max Ehrmann”.