Fanny "Shotty" Chollet (born 1991 in Saint-Légier-La Chiésaz) is the first woman in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

to fly a jet fighter plane, the F/A-18. She is a career officer in the

Swiss Air Force The Swiss Air Force (german: Schweizer Luftwaffe; french: Forces aériennes suisses; it, Forze aeree svizzere; rm, Aviatica militara svizra) is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914 as a part of the army and ...

and currently holds the rank of captain.

Career

Fanny "Shotty" Chollet graduated from Pully High School with a baccalaureate in biology and chemistry. She performed her military service in the aviation troops at the military airfields

Payerne Payerne (; frp, Payèrna) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was the seat of the district of Payerne, and is now part of the district of Broye-Vully. The German name ''Peterlingen'' for the town is out of use. History The earl ...

, Dübendorf and Alpnach. In 2012 Chollet was selected as a military pilot for the

and joined the Pilot Class 11 in the Swiss Air Force Pilot School in Emmen. She completed the first part of her education by earning a civilian commercial pilot license with instrument rating (CPL/IR) with airline transport pilot license theory (frozen ATPL) from Swiss Aviation Training (SAT, now Lufthansa Aviation Training) and a Bachelor of Science in Aviation from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

. This was followed by one-year stints on the

PC-7 The Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer is a low-wing tandem-seat training aircraft designed and manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. The aircraft is capable of all basic training functions including aerobatics, instrument flight rules, inst ...

and the

PC-21 The Pilatus PC-21 is a turboprop-powered advanced trainer with a stepped tandem cockpit. It is manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Development In November 1997 Pilatus flew a modified PC-7 Mk.II in order to test improvements for ...

. She is the first woman to fly the Pilatus PC-21. In December 2017 she received her military pilot's license.
Die Schweiz hat erstmals eine Kampfjetpilotin
'. In: NZZ, 19 February 2019. In early 2018, she began her F/A-18 training in the simulator and with F/A-18D double-seaters. On March 18, she completed her first solo flight in an F/A-18C (single-seater). She is assigned to the

Fliegerstaffel 18 Fliegerstaffel 18 (18 Squadron) «Panthers» of the Swiss Air Force is a Berufsfliegerkorps squadron equipped with McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 and forms ''Fliegergeschwader 14'' together with Fliegerstaffel 19. The home base of the Fliegerstaffel ...

squadron in Payerne. She is fluent in French, English, German, and Swiss German. Chollet is a member of the Appa (L'Andociation pour la Promotion du Patrimoine Aéronautique). In addition, she campaigned in 2020 as an ambassador for the “Swiss Tecladies” program. She was committed to the campaign for the procurement of new combat aircraft.

Aircraft types

Pilatus PC-7 The Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer is a low-wing tandem-seat training aircraft designed and manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. The aircraft is capable of all basic training functions including aerobatics, instrument, tactical and ni ...

* Pilatus PC-21 * F/A-18C * F/A-18D

Weblinks Single references

Bernhard Müller">Fanny Chollet on Public Q&A with Commander of the Swiss Air Force Bernhard Müller (general), Bernhard Müller
. (French language text)
Aargauer Zeitung

Schweizer Armee braucht Frauen wie Fanny Chollet Die Erste ihrer Art: «Shotty» wusste schon im Gymi, dass sie Kampfjetpilotin werden will

Fanny Chollet: Die erste Frau in einem F/A-18-Cockpit

TV News Report "Tagesschau" Waadtländerin fliegt F/A-18
* defensio.1-2019 (April 2019) "Mit Überschall am helevtischen Himmel (With supersonic in to the helevetic sky). Page 10 - 15 * "Erste Schweizer F/A-18 Pilotin" Schweizer Soldat, April 2019 Page 18 & 19 * Schweizer Luftwaffe Jahrespublikation 2020 (Swiss Air Force annual publishing) Frontcover & Pages 7-11. December 2019 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chollet, Fanny Living people 1991 births Swiss Air Force personnel 21st-century Swiss military personnel