Female commercial pilots have been around for a while….
We can go back to 1910 for the first but the end of WW1 changed that. Helen Ritchey became the world’s first when she was employed by Texas-based Central Airlines in 1934. Her first flight a Ford Trimotor between Detroit and Washington. She had started flying when she left school, entering many airshows and races. Teaming up with another female pilot, Frances Marsalis in 1933, they performed a record-breaking endurance flight over Florida, lasting 10 days! Following her partner’s sudden death, Ritchey decided on a more stable flying career and applied to several airlines. Sadly, she had been hired as a “publicity stunt”, spending more time attending press interviews than actually flying….
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) rejected her membership application and implemented regulations banning women from piloting in poor weather conditions. Appalled, Ritchey resigned her membership in 1935, after only a handful of flights. After that, the US did not see another female pilot until 1973. Emily Howell Warner had originally planned to be cabin crew, but a DC3 flightdeck trip encouraged her to pursue a different career. Self-funding her PPL lessons and gaining her licence in 1959, she then started flight instruction to many male pilots wanting to join commercial airlines. By 1967, she was appointed an FAA designated examiner but countless applications met with rejection. Applying to Frontier, Continental and United, she again missed out on interviews. When she didn’t appear on the list at Frontier, she marched into their HQ and confronted the Vice-president of Flight Operations. Although not required, she performed a check flight and passed with flying colours, so was hired as a First Officer on the Convair 580. As for union membership, she became the first female pilot to join ALPA in 1974.
Having moved to Continental as a Captain, she left in 1988 and joined UPS flying B727 and B737. Retiring in 2002, she had accrued more than 21,000 hours!
What happened in the UK? In 1966 Yvonne Pope Sintes joined Morton Air Services and became the UK’s first female commercial pilot. She then became this country’s first female jet pilot, operating Dan-Air’s Comet fleet in 1969. Promoted to Captain 3 years later, her first four-stripe flight on HS748 LBA-GLA. In 1975, she became the first UK female jet pilot when taking command of a BAC1-11 LGW-HER. She remained on this fleet until retiring in 1980.
BA remained reluctant to engage its first female pilot until 1987, when Lynn Barton was hired. Her first application in 1973 and subsequent years rejected purely on gender. Taking the flight instructor route, her application finally accepted. In an interview with BALPA to recognise 2020 International Women’s Day, she believed that “BA did not want to take the risk employing someone with little flying experience”. As BA were not recruiting at the time, she joined Air UK and Dan-Air, before joining BA aged 30. Immediate promotion to the long-haul 747 fleet based on her existing flying experience. Captain Barton commanded the first flight into LHR T5 in March 2008.
For those harbouring supersonic ambitions, Barbara Harmer the first female BA Concorde Captain. Others were Jacqueline Auriol, French Test Pilot and Beatrice Vialle from Air France.
Around the world, many had ambitions to fly commercially but were met with the same prejudice. Some resorted to court action to ensure that airlines adhered to equal opportunities legislation. In one such case, Ansett Airlines argued that a female pilot’s earrings could get stuck to an evacuation slide! Born in 1953, Deborah Lawrie remains the world’s oldest female commercial pilot, with more than 54 years of flying.
What are airlines doing to encourage female pilots?
easyJet launched its Amy Johnson initiative in 2015. The main aims to dispel the stereotype that women couldn’t pilot planes and increase their female flight crew to 12% over 2 years. Qantas has the Nancy-Bird Walton programme. Started in 2017, its initial aim to increase its intake of female pilots to 20% for the 2018 Future Pilots Programme and at least 40% over the next decade. JetBlue Gateways is not only encouraging female pilots but “embracing potential within under-represented communities”.
India has a different story to tell. In 2023, the country recorded the highest number of female airline pilots with 12.4%. The record for youngest female airline pilot in the world goes to a 26-year-old who gained her fourth stripe in 1990.
However, there’s still misconceptions about the role. Lack of awareness being a key factor. Passenger attitudes don’t help either. A TUI First Officer recently shared on social media that she’d been the subject of unhealthy comments in an airport coffee shop. The male thought he was being clever in front of his mates. She never did reveal whether he was a passenger on her flight…
To finish, here’s some more names that may or may not be familiar –
Lisa Norman – Qantas B787 Captain, also A330 current
Thyra Bloom – Air New Zealand Training Captain
Kate McWilliams – easyJet Captain, the world’s youngest, appointed age 26 in 2016
And finally…
Swiss – 777 made a rare visit to BHX last week. Didn’t stay long as it was only for a crew change….
Skydive Perris - it’s been over 10 years since a former SAS DC9 took to the skies over Southern California for a sky-diving mission. But this past weekend, N127NK, a 55-year-old DC-9-21 “Hot Rod,” did just that. Multiple loads of jumpers had a chance to experience history aboard the 488th Long Beach-built Douglas DC-9. Skydive Perris, a skydiving facility just 50 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, hosted three “Jump the Jet” events.
Information courtesy of Airliner World (May 2024) Swiss, avgeekery.com
Images courtesy of Pilot Career News, avgeekery.com
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