The daughter Kelly too fell in love with flying when she was 14 and followed her mother's footsteps.
In a dream come true moment, a mother and daughter duo teamed up to pilot a Southwest Airline and photos from the heartwarming moment have gone viral on social media. Captain Holly Petitt and First Officer Keely Petitt are Southwest Airlines' first pair of mother-daughter pilots, according to a release from Southwest. The airline has posted about them on its social media handles. Holly and Keely flew together on Flight 3658 from Denver to St Louis on July 23, it further said.
The moment Captain Holly introduced her daughter to passengers on the flight was captured on camera and aired on Good Morning America on Tuesday.
The video begins with the duo holding an old photograph in a frame inside the flight while the text super reads, "POV: You become the first mother-daughter duo at Southwest."
"Today is a special day for me. I would like to introduce to you your first officer, a brand new member of the Southwest team of pilots, and my daughter, Keely," Captain Holly said in the video, as reported by People.
Later, in a statement, she said, "It's been a dream come true. First, I found this career and fell in love with it, and then that one of my kids fell into this and in love with this career too. It's surreal."
According to New York Post, Captain Holly began her aviation career as a flight attendant right after getting out of college. In the due course, she realised that she wanted to become a pilot. She took her flight lessons when Kelly was just over two. She has two more children, but family pressure did not stop Captain Holly from pursuing her dream.
She has been in the job for 18 years, and has now been joined by her daughter.
Kelly too fell in love with flying when she was 14 and followed her mother's footsteps. After earning her pilot's license, she got an internship with Southwest Airlines in 2017 and there was no looking back after that.
"Southwest was always the end goal for me. There was really never any other option," she was quoted as saying by People.
In the now-viral video, both mother and daughter are seen carrying their luggage and wearing the same pilot's uniform. Together, they are also seen in the cockpit. As the clip ends, they are seen waving to one another.
Since being shared, the video has amassed over 2.79 lakh likes and more than 24,000 likes so far. Users were surprised with the daughter's achievement and left beautiful remarks in the comment section of the post.
"Wahoo!! We should have another father/daughter duo here in a few short years! Our daughter just finished her first year in the 225 program," wrote a user, while another said, "Wow! I would have loved to be their passenger."
A third user commented, "Congrats Keely/Keely's mom, way to go."