ROBIN KARDON
As a child growing up in the 60’s, Robin “R. D.” Kardon wanted to be an astronaut. Her mother told her, “girls don’t do that.” It was true at the time. Robin didn’t touch the controls of an airplane until she was in her 30’s. She earned an ATP, three type-ratings and flew all over the world as a corporate and airline pilot. Robin has taken her experiences and turned them into best-selling novels featuring an ambitious female pilot.
If you ask Robin why she writes, she’ll immediately reply, “Because I have something to say.”
Award-winning author Robin “R.D.” Kardon is a native New Yorker, educated in the New York City public school system. She attended New York University where she earned a B.A. in Journalism and Sociology, magna cum laude, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
After college, Robin went to law school at The American University, Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C. There, she was a Moot Court champion and earned her J.D. Thus began her ten-year career as a commercial litigator.
Disillusioned with practicing law, Robin sought another career and started training to become a pilot in 1991. Her primary flight instructor was a woman. Working full-time and flying only on weekends, Robin earned her Certified Flight Instructor ratings in eighteen months, quit practicing law, and started instructing. Eventually, she flew as both a corporate and airline Captain. She’s flown everything from single-engine Cessnas to the Boeing 737 all over the US and the world. In addition to being a fixed-wing ATP, Robin is also a Commercial/Instrument rated helicopter pilot.
The tragedy of September 11, 2001, decimated the aviation industry. Unfortunately, Robin was furloughed from her airline job, and neither she nor her career recovered from the blow. She left aviation voluntarily in 2004 and became an executive search consultant specializing in corporate attorney placement. She’s worked with thousands of companies and candidates all over the world, helping them find the right professional fit. Now, she counsels female pilots on choosing career trajectories and interview skills.
Robin’s first novel, Flygirl, existed for twenty years as 83 pages printed in Word Perfect on blue notepaper until she decided to finish the novel in 2015. Writing a publishable novel was a process she needed to learn, so Robin joined San Diego Writers, Ink. (SDWI). After a year of coursework concentrating on the craft of writing fiction, she earned an Advanced Certificate in Novel Writing.
Thanks to her work at SDWI, Robin published her first novel, Flygirl, in 2019. Based in large part on Robin’s actual experience integrating an all-male corporate flight department in the early ‘90’s, and the indignities and discrimination she and other female pilots she knew at the time endured, Flygirl introduces the reader to pilot Tris Miles, a thirty-something pilot trying to make her way in an aviation career and have a personal life. It became an Amazon #1 Best Seller and has won numerous awards.
Robin’s second novel, Angel Flight, also rose to Amazon #1 Best Seller status. That novel follows the career of Tris Miles, this time as she competes for a coveted promotion against the backdrop of a life-saving medical flight which goes horribly wrong. It addresses the sensitive issues of mental illness and depression among pilots, as well as medical challenges specific to women in the cockpit.
To learn more about Robin, visit her website at www.rdkardonauthor.com where you can also subscribe to her monthly newsletter, and check out her Amazon Author Page.
You can connect with Robin on Social Media at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinkardon/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rdkardonauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rdkardonauthor
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/r-d-kardon
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17912002.R_D_Kardon
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rdkardonauthor/