Kathi Durst attended the United States Air Force Academy the second year women were allowed to enroll, and went to Undergraduate Pilot Training the second year women were allowed to become Air Force pilots. Although she performed well enough to qualify for a fighter assignment, at that time women were not permitted to fly combat aircraft, so she was assigned as an Instructor Pilot (IP) in the supersonic T-38 Talon aircraft.

After seven years, she left the Air Force and hired on with American Airlines, where she rose to the position of Chief Pilot at the largest airline domicile in the world.