United Airlines pilot fufills lifelong dream of co-piloting flight with mom

A United Airlines pilot gave a heartwarming announcement ahead of co-piloting a flight with her mother and fulfilled her lifelong mission. 

Brooke Patterson Van Howe held the microphone as she stood at the United Airlines Terminal Gate 76A and told passengers she would be their first officer taking them to Newark this afternoon.

‘Today is a very special flight for us probably the most special in my aviation career,’ Van Howe said in the announcement from an unknown airport.

Turning towards the smiling woman standing next to her, who is dressed in a matching navy blue pilot’s uniform, said: ‘You see this is Captain Brenda Patterson…not only is she my role model …she’s my mother.’

 ‘From the first day I took my very first flight lesson it was my dream to fly with my mom and today that dream comes true,’ as applause are overheard and the mother and daughter duo pull their luggage across the terminal towards the aircraft.

Turning towards the woman standing next to her, who is dressed in a matching navy blue pilot’s uniform, she said. ‘You see this is Captain Brenda Patterson…not only is she my role model …she’s my mother’

Mother and daughter pilots pose in the cockpit of the aircraft. The video went viral around Mother’s Day

The touching touching tribute appeared a few days before Mother’s Day on Van Howe’s TikTok with the headline: ‘Like mother like daughter.’ 

The video shows a series of photos of a young Van Howe with her mom.

‘She raised me into the woman I am today and I am super proud to call her my mom,’ she said. ‘I’m very excited to share the experience with you.’

United airlines re-shared the video and their post has more than 640,000 likes.  

Van Howe’s feel-good post left many commenting on how empowering and inspirational the message was ahead of the duo’s flight to Newark, New Jersey. 

United Airlines re-shared the video and their post has more than 640,000 likes.  

‘Why am I crying,’ one person wrote.

Another said: ‘Women pilots are the best’  

‘More women in aviation,’ with applause emojis wrote another.

A throwback phot of the mother and daughter duo  that finally flew a United Airlines plane together years later

Van Howe pictured wearing a United Airlines sweatshirt when she was a youngster 

Many of the men that chimed in were equally enamored by the post. 

‘How proud must Mom be???, one person added, ‘This is very cool

‘United is out here defining the definition of taking the motto ‘connecting people, uniting the world’ to a personal level!,’ said another.  

Someone said: ‘That’s just a very special moment… congratulations.’