Beverley Bass

Last updated
Beverley Bass
Born
Beverley Bass

(1952-03-27) March 27, 1952 (age 72)
Fort Myers, Florida, United States
Alma mater Texas Christian University
OccupationPilot for American Airlines
Years active1976–2008
SpouseTom Stawicki
Children2

Beverley Bass (born March 27, 1952) [1] is an American aircraft pilot and was the first female captain of an American Airlines commercial plane. [a] She was hired in 1976 by American Airlines as their third female pilot. [2] In 1986, Bass became the first female captain of a commercial plane at American Airlines [3] and later that year she captained the first all-female crew in the history of commercial jet aviation, on an American Airlines flight from Washington D.C. to Dallas, Texas. [3] [4] She and pilot Stephanie Wallach founded the International Society of Women Airline Pilots, which began as a group of women aviators but later changed into a program providing career support and mentorship to aspiring pilots. [3]

Contents

Early life

Bass was born and raised in Fort Myers, Florida and graduated from high school in 1970. She studied Spanish and Interior Design at Texas Christian University, receiving bachelor's degrees in both subjects in May 1974. [5] Bass cites her aunt, who would park her Volkswagen Beetle by the local airport's chain-link fence so Bass could watch planes takeoff and land, as her inspiration to start flying. Bass's father, fearing losing her interest in the family's quarter horses, refused flying lessons. [5]

Bass started flying the summer after her first year at Texas Christian University, in 1971. She logged her hours at Fort Worth's Meacham Airport, spending six hours there each afternoon. [5] Bass's first professional experience came when a local mortician needed to fly a young woman's body to Arkansas. [5]

Bass's career in commercial aviation began with difficulty, Bass said: "I was told there couldn't be a female pilot flying executives around because what would the wives think". [6]

Diversion to Gander on September 11, 2001

Bass was piloting a Boeing 777 en route from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport when the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, occurred. Due to the closure of American airspace, Bass's flight was ordered to land at Gander International Airport in Gander, Newfoundland, as part of the Canadian government's Operation Yellow Ribbon. [7] [8] [9]

Her experience in Gander during the days following the attacks, including her learning of the fate of her friend and fellow pilot Charles Burlingame on American Airlines Flight 77, was one of several people's stories featured in the Tony Award–winning Canadian musical Come from Away . [10] [11] While the Beverley Bass character in the musical is partly a composite character combining experiences of other pilots in Gander at the time, the number "Me and the Sky" is entirely drawn from the real Bass's life story. [12] Bass has developed a close friendship with Jenn Colella, the actress who portrays her in the Broadway company of Come from Away, and frequently travels to see the show. [12] [13] [14] At the show's closing night in Seattle, Bass presented Colella with the flight jacket, wings, and service pin she was wearing on September 11, to be worn on Broadway. [15] For her performance as Bass, as well as other characters such as Gander resident Annette, Colella was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.

Honors

In 2019 she was made Brian Kelly's TPG Awards honoree, and it was announced that his company had donated $50,000 to the International Society of Women Airline Pilots in Bass's honor. [3] She was the recipient of the distinguished alumni award from Texas Christian University.

Personal life

Bass is married to Tom Stawicki and has two children. [11] [12]

Notes

  1. ↑ Bonnie Tiburzi in 1973 was the first woman pilot on an American Airlines aircraft

Bibliography

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Come from Away is a 2021 musical film comprising a live stage recording of Irene Sankoff and David Hein's 2017 musical of the same name, which tells the true story of 7,000 airline passengers who were stranded in a small town in Newfoundland, where they were housed and welcomed, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The film, produced in response to the shutdown of Broadway caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, was directed by Christopher Ashley and filmed in front of an audience that included frontline workers and 9/11 survivors in May 2021 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater in New York City, featuring members of the Broadway cast.

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Vol 2 (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
  2. ↑ Williams, Cynthia A. (March 19, 2016). "Fort Myers native Beverley Bass made aviation history". The News-Press. Fort Myers, Florida. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 4 O'Kane, Caitlin. "Female pilot honored: Beverley Bass, American Airlines' first female captain, honored at TPG Awards". CBS News. Retrieved 2019-12-12.
  4. ↑ "All-female flight crew is aviation first". UPI Archives. United Press International. December 30, 1986. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Martin, Lisa (Summer 2017). "'Come From Away' Inspiration Beverley Bass Tells Her Story". TCU Magazine. Texas Christian University. Archived from the original on 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
  6. ↑ "Meet the real-life 'Come from Away' pilot Beverly Bass". YouTube .
  7. ↑ Maxon, Terry (September 10, 2011). "Tales of 9/11: Beverley Bass took a detour to Gander". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  8. ↑ Patterson, Thom (September 10, 2021). "Pilots Share Their 9/11 Stories". FLYING Magazine. Retrieved January 5, 2022. I wrestled with the decision whether to jettison fuel that might be precious to me later because I didn't know how many other planes will be in Gander or how much fuel will be available or when I would be leaving.
  9. ↑ "Beverly Bass: Airways interview". Airways. 27. Sandpoint, Idaho. March 2020. OCLC   1195705650.
  10. ↑ Michaelson, Christopher; Tosti-Kharas, Jennifer (October 1, 2020). "A World Changed: What Post-9/11 Stories Tell Us about the Position of America, Purpose of Business, and Meaning of Work". Academy of Management Review. 45 (4): 877–895. doi:10.5465/amr.2019.0151. ISSN   0363-7425. S2CID   225349319.
  11. 1 2 Bailey, Sue (June 10, 2017). "Meet Beverley Bass: Pilot inspired performance in 'Come From Away'". CTV News. The Canadian Press. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  12. 1 2 3 Paulson, Michael (April 16, 2017). "A Pioneering Pilot, A Broadway Show and a Life-Changing Bond". New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  13. ↑ Bass, Beverley; Colella, Jenn; Hassan, Ali (May 22, 2017). The remarkable friendship between a Come From Away cast member and the real-life woman she portrays (Radio). CBC Radio. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  14. ↑ Renting, L. Z. (June 15, 2019). Welcome to the Rock: a bachelor thesis on Come From Away in regards to Baudrillard's post 9/11 notion of the static image (Thesis). Supervised by Natascha Veldhorst. Radboud University. Ms. Colella (the actress portraying Beverly Bass, red.) said, 'it's trickier than anything I've ever done'
  15. ↑ Williams, Cynthia A. (2016-03-20). "Soaring Life of Beverley Bass". News-Press. Fort Myers, FL. p. E15.
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