She happens to belong to a minority as far as pilots are concerned, so it gets mentioned. The word "pilot" would have been qualified had any of the following been appropriate: teenage pilot, geriatric pilot, inexperienced pilot, world champion pilot, royal pilot...and so on. (They wouldn't dare say "black pilot" or similar these days.) They'd only say "pilot" by itself if it was one of you boring, white, middle-of-the road, middle-aged lot. It's a shame, but that's the way journalism works.
