Interview with Cordula Pflaum I FAZ (12/31/2023)
„More stress,
more mistakes“
Cordula Pflaum, experienced pilot and expert in psychological safety, shares her extensive experience not only in the cockpit but also as a trainer for team dynamics. In the following conversation, she provides deeper insights into the challenges of hierarchies, the importance of trust and the development of a supportive leadership culture in different contexts.
Interview mit Cordula Pflaum
FAZ (12/31/2023)
„More stress, more mistakes“
Cordula Pflaum, experienced pilot and expert in psychological safety, shares her extensive experience not only in the cockpit but also as a trainer for team dynamics. In the following conversation, she provides deeper insights into the challenges of hierarchies, the importance of trust and the development of a supportive leadership culture in different contexts.
Interview with Cordula Pflaum I Julia Meyn for the
Goldman Verlag (January 2024)
„A look behind the scenes“
16 questions for the pilot, captain and training captain at Lufthansa, Cordula Pflaum. We talk about the content and concerns of her book „Good day, this is your captain speaking. About high flights, prejudices and my life as a pilot“, which will be published by Goldmann Verlag on March 20, 2024.
Interview with Cordula Pflaum I Julia Meyn for the
Goldman Verlag (January 2024)
„A look behind the scenes“
16 questions for the pilot, captain and training captain at Lufthansa, Cordula Pflaum. We talk about the content and concerns of her book „Good day, this is your captain speaking. About high flights, prejudices and my life as a pilot“, which will be published by Goldmann Verlag on March 20, 2024.
Strengthening patient safety
A look from aviation at error culture and communication in healthcare
The “Patiens for Patients Safety” project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Health and implements the demands of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Global Action Plan for Patient Safety 2021 – 2030. It aims to involve patients in raising awareness of patient safety and to strengthen the safety culture in the healthcare system.
Learning from the aviation industry
Cordula Pflaum, Lufthansa training captain, emphasizes the importance of psychologically safe teams in the healthcare system. In collaboration with Kilikum rechts der Isar, the Technical University of Munich TUM and the AO Foundation, among others, she is transforming these skills into medicine. She compares the approaches of the aviation industry and the healthcare system to error culture and communication.
Article Fränkischer Tag (03/05/2024)
„Cordula Pflaum’s book can also inspire other industries…“
Hallstadt flight captain provides insights into the cockpit.
She trains Airbus pilots and has been flying for Lufthansa for more than 30 years – Cordula Pflaum’s book can also inspire other industries.
Cordula Pflaum wanted to be a pilot or astronaut when she was eleven. „That was actually my childhood dream,“ says the Hallstadt native, who has been living her dream of becoming a pilot for more than 30 years now.
As a training captain, she has long been training others for long-haul flights and transferring lessons from aviation to other industries.
The 54-year-old has just returned from Cape Town and is using a few days off to push forward her latest project: in just over two weeks her first book „Hello, this is your captain speaking“, which Pflaum wrote together with journalist and author Heidi Friedrich, will be published. In it, Pflaum reports „about highs, prejudices and my life as a pilot“.
wmn – dein Lifestylemagazin (03/20/2024)
„On flights of fancy and prejudices – Cordula Pflaum in an interview“
Cordula Pflaum’s life is worth a book: she will publish it on March 20, 2024. It is about her career as one of the first female pilots.
„Good day, this is your captain speaking“ – this is the title of Cordula Pflaum’s first book, which will be published on March 20, 2024. She was one of the first professional female pilots in Germany. Her life is characterized by courage, challenges and joy, but also by prejudices and assertiveness.
wmn – dein Lifestylemagazin (03/20/2024)
„On flights of fancy and prejudices – Cordula Pflaum in an interview“
Cordula Pflaum’s life is worth a book: she will publish it on March 20, 2024. It is about her career as one of the first female pilots.
„Good day, this is your captain speaking“ – this is the title of Cordula Pflaum’s first book, which will be published on March 20, 2024. She was one of the first professional female pilots in Germany. Her life is characterized by courage, challenges and joy, but also by prejudices and assertiveness.
Weil Geld spaß macht – finanzielle (MAy 2024)
Powerjob pilot: Cordula Pflaum has done pioneering work in the cockpit – and still does
How does it feel to be back on the ground when high-altitude flights are part of everyday life?
Working in the air can bring dramatic situations, but just as often feelings of happiness.
3 women, 1 industry: aviation
Zeitungsartikel Zeit Online (June 2024)
Experiences as a pilot
„You have a husband and children, why are you in the air so much?“
Cordula Pflaum is an experienced pilot. In her career she has had to listen to a lot – especially from men. How to persevere when you are constantly being watched.
What puts women off about the job of pilot is the duty roster, says Cordula Pflaum. She wrote the book „Hello, this is your captain“ about this, among other things.
I’ve known since I was a child that I wanted to be a pilot one day – in 1990 I finally got the chance to prove myself. Why did I start? Because at the time I was one of the two to three percent of women who applied to the German Aerospace Center in Hamburg for a career as a pilot.
Artikel über cordula pflaum
Business insider (JulY 2024)
„I train pilots as a captain at Lufthansa“
I am the youngest of four daughters and the only one who knew what I wanted to do as a career when I was eleven. Back then, it was clear to me: I wanted to be a pilot or an astronaut. I pursued this dream without hesitation, even though I didn’t know if it would ever work out. Today I am one of a few female pilots and the first training captain for long-haul flights.
My father was an economist and worked for Lufthansa in the 1960s, but never as a pilot. He liked to talk about how he wanted to be a pilot, but couldn’t fulfill his dream because of his poor eyesight. Perhaps his stories influenced my choice of career. But I am the only one in my family who has chosen a technical profession.
Artikel about Cordula Pflaum – Goldmann Verlag / IN (07/03/2024)
„We need more female pilots“
It’s not possible! It doesn’t exist! When women want to reach for the sky, even the sky has no limits. And Cordula Pflaum is the best proof of that!
„I work with people, have responsibility and have the most beautiful office in the world“ Just a few more minutes, Mom, please!“ All mothers probably know this sentence when their children want to linger a little longer in dreamland in the morning. Cordula Pflaum’s mother knew the sentence from a completely different situation: her little daughter simply wanted to look up at the sky for a little longer: „Every Thursday after piano lessons, I begged my mother to stop at the airport on the way home so that I could watch the planes,“ the pilot remembers and has to laugh: „From the very beginning, I was fascinated by what people are capable of and the incredible technical possibilities they can create.“
Artikel BR24 (09/03/2024)
Only seven percent women: Pilot wants to inspire people to fly!
Cordula Pflaum is sitting on her roof terrace in Hallstadt, Upper Franconia, wearing casual white cotton trousers. The 54-year-old seems relaxed two days before her departure to Tokyo. She has been flying for Lufthansa for 30 years and has been training young pilots for more than ten years.
When Cordula Pflaum talks about her job, her eyes light up and you can feel her enthusiasm for flying. „Seeing the sun or the moon every day. The tides. Moving the technology, lifting these tons into the air.“ But the pilot can also become thoughtful when she talks about her everyday working life.
Artikel Zeit Online (09/07/2024)
Pilot wants to encourage women!
Captain Cordula Pflaum (54) wants to be a role model for young women. „It just has to get into people’s heads that women can also become pilots,“ says Pflaum, who lives with her family in the Bamberg district. In her book „Hello, this is your captain speaking,“ she gives insights into her professional life at Lufthansa.
Stern.de (09/18/2024)
Pilot says: „Some people are still surprised that a woman is piloting“
Cordula Pflaum is a training captain at Lufthansa. Here she tells how she asserted herself in the male world and why she once had to throw out a passenger.
Recorded by Gunnar Herbst
Even at the age of eleven I really wanted to be a pilot. We had four daughters at home in Ravensburg. My father, who used to work at Lufthansa, often talked about flying. I found it fascinating, just like physics and astronomy. One of his friends took me along in a motor glider.
Stern.de (09/18/2024)
Pilot says: „Some people are still surprised that a woman is piloting“
Cordula Pflaum is a training captain at Lufthansa. Here she tells how she asserted herself in the male world and why she once had to throw out a passenger.
Recorded by Gunnar Herbst
Even at the age of eleven I really wanted to be a pilot. We had four daughters at home in Ravensburg. My father, who used to work at Lufthansa, often talked about flying. I found it fascinating, just like physics and astronomy. One of his friends took me along in a motor glider.
Artikel about Cordula Pflaum – HUMAN resources manager (October / November 2024)
„The power that comes from the team“
Whether a team is mentally strong and psychologically secure and therefore powerful and successful depends above all on the empathy of the leader, says pilot and trainer Cordula Pflaum. But important skills of each individual team member are also crucial.
Bild der Frau (11/01/2024)
It’s your captain speaking!
Little Cordula, who was nine years old at the time, always looked forward to her weekly piano lesson. Her teacher lived very close to the Ganderkesee airfield near Bremen – and on the way home she persuaded her mother to stop there to look at the planes. „Even then, it was clear to me: one day, I’ll learn to fly myself,“ laughs the now 55-year-old. In her friends‘ bedrooms, there were Bravo posters of musicians and horses, and in hers, there were stars and galaxies.
After graduating from high school, she applied for the pilot test. She prepared herself, full of enthusiasm – and lots of carrots. „Everyone in my family wore glasses except me. Under no circumstances should a diopter prevent me from being allowed to take the test,“ she explains. Cordula was accepted! As one of two women on the course. Almost alone among men. That is still the case today. Only eight percent of the 6,000 pilots at Lufthansa are female. Things are no better at other airlines. Cordula wants to change that. „Flying is a skill that has nothing to do with gender,“ she emphasizes.
Herzstück (Januar / Februar 2025)
Above the clouds: Captain Cordula Pflaum
Women are (still) rare in the world of flying. Pilot Cordula Pflaum has been at Huase for decades. It shows us how important it can be to stick to goals, even when they seem far away. And she wants to inspire others to achieve their dreams. Her encouraging message: The journey is not always easy, but in the end it is worth it.
Rezensionen & Feedback
Stimmen aus meinem Umfeld
„Ich durfte mit Cordula während meiner Zeit bei der Lufthansa Group zusammenarbeiten. Cordula ist eine hervorragende Trainerin, die schnell erkennt, was ihre Teilnehmer:Innen benötigen. Sie inspiriert durch eigene Erfahrungen, praktische Beispiele und Wissen. Die Weiterentwicklung von Menschen und ein lebenslanges Lernen stehen bei ihr im Vordergrund.“
Martin Egerth
Head of People and Learning Development,
Sky Guide
„Als ich mit Cordula zusammenarbeiten durfte, habe ich sie als mega verbindlich und ausdauernd erlebt. Sie zeigt sich extrem offen, kann dabei sehr gut zuhören. So schwer die Aufgabe auch war, gehörte Spaß immer dazu und ein ‚geht nicht‘ gibt es bei ihr nicht.„
Ralf Lanwehr
Prof. Dr. rer. oec.
„Cordula’s natural warmth, inspiring presence, and zest for excellence make her a charismatic leader whose experiences translate and resonate across many fields. Through our years of exchanging ideas, perspectives, and asking great questions, Cordula is a constant inspiration.„
Barbara Hannigan
Principal Guest Conductor of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Premiere Artiste Invitée of Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and founder of Equilibrium Young Artists Mentoring Initiative