Joann Osterud

Last updated

Joann Osterud (November 14, 1945 - March 12, 2017) was an American pilot who flew for commercial airlines as well as stunt performances.

Contents

Biography

Joann Osterud was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 14, 1945 to parents Kenneth Osterud (1914-1994) and Dorothy (Wellington) Osterud (1919-1971). She had an older brother and a younger sister. Her father taught biology at the University of Minnesota from 1941 until 1948, when the family relocated to Seattle, Washington, for Kenneth Osterud’s teaching post at the University of Washington. [1] [2]

She married John Gregory Hull (1939-2012) in Seattle on April 15, 1971 and they divorced in July 1973. [3] On November 5, 1978, she married fellow pilot Robert H. Nottke (1939-2012) in California; they divorced in 1984. [4] [5]

Osterud was a longtime animal rescuer, specifically cats and tortoises, and a member of Concerned People for Animals. [6]

She died of natural causes on March 12, 2017 at age 71. [7]

Education and early life

Osterud graduated from Roosevelt High School in Seattle in 1964, and then attended Reed College in Portland, OR, graduating in 1968 with a degree in political science. [8] [9] She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and wrote her senior thesis on science and public policy, but discovered a love of physics late in college while working on the installation of the Reed reactor, and was one of the original students licensed to operate it. [9] During Osterud’s summers, as well as the year after graduation, she worked at Seattle's Pacific Science Center as the Science Education Coordinator. Her boss was Dr. Dixie Lee Ray who would later be Washington’s first female governor, but who was then a colleague of Osterud’s father at the University of Washington.

Osterud also briefly attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working on a graduate degree in science and public policy, but was disappointed with the school and left after one year. [10]

Flight and world records

Osterud started taking flying lessons in 1968 from a female instructor at Hillsboro Airport, just outside Portland, Oregon, and earned her pilot’s license while at MIT as a grad student. [9] [11] She worked briefly as a flight instructor for Bell Air Service in Seattle, before being hired as both a secretary and pilot for Lynden Transport in Alaska. [9] [12] [13] Osterud's first appearance as a stunt pilot at an airshow appears to have been in 1974 at the Abbotsford Air Show, flying clipped wing Cub aerobatics. [14]

In 1975, she became the first female pilot employed by Alaska Airlines, [15] starting out as a co-pilot on Alaska's DHC Twin Otter turboprop out of Juneau. [9] This made her the sixth female commercial pilot in the country. After flying for Alaska for three years, Osterud became the fourth woman graduate of the United Airlines training school, and in May 1978, was hired by United Airlines, becoming the sixth female pilot to fly for the airline. [16] During her employment with Alaska Airlines, she participated in the investigation into the cause of an Alaska Airlines 727 crash at Juneau on September 4, 1971. Her research was key to finding the elusive cause of an error in VOR station propagation which resulted in the aircraft descending into terrain.

Despite her time spent flying for major airlines, Osterud worked steadily as a stunt pilot, working at airshows across the U.S. and Canada most weekends between March and November. She bought her first plane in 1976, a Stephens Akro plane built by Gerry Zimmerman in 1971, which was the first amateur-built Akro to fly. Osterud used the Akro for stunt performance maneuvers like hammerhead turns, tailslides, and lomcevaks (tumbling end over end) in the air show circuit. [17] [18] She donated the Akro to the Museum of Flight in 1994. [18]

Osterud almost set her first record in 1987, where she was supposed to be the first woman to compete in the Reno Air Races. A technical requirement kept her from competing during the weekend in a 40 year old British plane called Blind Man’s Bluff. The plane had been converted to burn methanol, and because of this, it did not pass race checkout. [11] [19]

At an airshow on July 13, 1989 in North Bend, Oregon, Osterud set her first world flight record, flying 208 outside loops in her Sorrell Biplane Supernova. The plane was 21 feet long with a 23-foot wingspan, and topped out at 170 MPH. It had a 230-horsepower engine and a nitrous oxide injection system for an extra boost. [20] Osterud modified it with straps to hold her feet to the pedals, and she trained for the time upside down with a special harness that allowed her to hang upside down for long periods of time. Previous record holder Dorothy Stenzel set the record of 62 outside loops in 1931 and, after seeing Osterud perform at an airshow, encouraged her to break her record. Stenzel commented to Sports Illustrated, “I believed it was well past time the record was broken… She’s a smooth flyer and I didn’t think she’d tear her wings off.” [20] The 208 outside loops took her 2 hours, 4 minutes, 38 seconds, and not only broke Stenzel’s record of 62 outside loops, but also the unofficial men’s record of 180 outside loops, which was set by Hal McClain in the 1980s. Osterud also used the record-breaking stunt to raise money for United Way of Southeastern Oregon, allowing people to sponsor individual loops. She raised $1,364.67, and would have quit at 200 loops, but one of her favorite Eagles songs was playing, so she kept going. [20]

Osterud next set two records at once on July 24, 1991, for both the longest flight upside down and the longest flight upside down in one stretch, flying for 4 hours and 38 minutes over 658 miles in her Ultimate 10-300S biplane between Vancouver BC and Vanderhoof BC. [21] She was scheduled to perform in the 1990 Vanderhoof Air Show, so decided to try her hand at breaking Milo Burcham’s 1933 record. She had previously attempted the flight in 1990, but had to end the flight early due to an engine oil leak. Burcham flew 4 hours, 5 minutes, 22 seconds flying upside down from Long Beach to San Diego and back in a Boeing 100 where he had inverted the engine. [21] [22] The records were part publicity stunt for the Vanderhoof Air Show, partly to fundraise for the Canadian Air Cadets, and also to prove that she could do it. [23] Osterud upgraded her biplane with six fuel tanks, specialized oil and electrical systems, special seat belts and drinking tubes, the last two for making the long flight more comfortable. She had the same problems she always did with her body on her inverted flights: painful leg cramps, facial swelling, eyes swelling, and head congestion. During the record-setting flight, she was accompanied by five other planes, including an official observer from the Canadian Federation Aeronautique Internationale and another to navigate for her. "The world looks real weird upside down," she said. "The normal points of reference just aren't there." As of 1991, she was flying 20-25 airshows a year as well as flying for United Airlines, and compared the difference between the two types of planes as "the difference between driving a Cadillac and riding a dirt bike." [23]

Last flight and career ending accident

Osterud’s last stunt flight ended abruptly, when she crashed during an airshow at the MCAS Yuma Airshow in Yuma, Arizona, at the MCAS, Yuma International Airport on April 11, 1997. She was flying her Ultimate 10-300S biplane in a performance at the airshow she called "Ring of Fire," which she had performed numerous times over the years both in the United States and abroad. The stunt centered on a giant ring of flames at center stage of the show. She would make multiple passes through the flaming ring, and on the last pass, flew upside down and cut a ribbon suspended between two poles with the tail of her plane, while the plane was 10–20 feet off the ground. [24] [25] According to the NTSB accident report, Osterud had personally chosen the location for the poles and ribbon, which was just to the south of the runway over old asphalt and concrete. This meant that her path was free of any obstacles and would parallel the runway. She planned to cut the ribbon while flying inverted on her third pass, and then land. [26] She ended up flying at dusk, and then had to fly directly into the setting sun before turning around for her last pass, which was the one that was upside down. "I remember the turn-around at the west end, rolling inverted [and] establishing my sight picture for the run-in. However, the next few seconds are a total blank in my memory. I can remember the sound of the impact, but my recollection of a visual picture resumes only with the sparks created by the inverted slide." Osterud crashed into the runway while upside down on the third pass, totaling the plane, but was able to walk away from the crash unhurt. She apparently went back to the grandstand covered in soot, dirt and mud in her hair and apologized to the crowd for crashing. Her insurance covered the remaining debt on the plane, but did not leave enough for her to buy another plane. This crash ended her stunt career. The NTSB inspector found no mechanical or engine problems with the plane and cited “the pilot's failure to maintain adequate vertical clearance from the runway, while flying inverted” as well as “the light conditions at dusk, and the pilot's lack of visual ques [sic] due to the light conditions” as factors relating to the accident. [27]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milo Burcham</span> American aviator

Milo Garrett Burcham was an American aviator. He worked as a stunt pilot, airshow pilot, and test pilot.

Northwest Airlink was the brand name of Northwest Airlines' regional airline service, which flew turboprop and regional jet aircraft from Northwest's domestic hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis. Service was primarily to small-to-medium-sized cities and towns where larger aircraft might not be economical to operate and also to larger markets to either provide additional capacity or more frequent flights than could be justified using mainline aircraft. Beginning in July 2009, the Northwest Airlink trade name was phased out, and replaced by the Delta Connection trade name for Delta Air Lines as part of the Delta/Northwest merger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alaska Airlines Flight 261</span> Aviation accident over the Pacific Ocean in 2000

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 was an Alaska Airlines flight of a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 plane that crashed into the Pacific Ocean on January 31, 2000, roughly 2.7 miles north of Anacapa Island, California, following a catastrophic loss of pitch control, killing all 88 on board: two pilots, three cabin crew members, and 83 passengers. The flight was a scheduled international passenger flight from Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport near Seattle, Washington, United States, with an intermediate stop at San Francisco International Airport near San Francisco, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty Wagstaff</span> American aviator

Patty Wagstaff is an American aviator and U.S. national aerobatic champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpine Air Express</span> American cargo airline

Alpine Air Express is an American airline based in Provo, Utah, USA. It operates scheduled air passenger and cargo services on over 100 routes throughout Colorado, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah. Its main base is the Provo Municipal Airport. At one point also, Alpine Air Express was a passenger airline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provo Municipal Airport</span> Airport in Utah, United States

Provo Municipal Airport is a public-use airport two miles [3.2 km] west of Provo, in Utah County, Utah. It is a small regional airport with domestic flights mainly to destinations in the western United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Airlines Flight 826</span> 1997 clear-air turbulence incident

On December 28, 1997, United Airlines Flight 826 was operated by a Boeing 747-100 flying from New Tokyo Airport, Japan to Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. Two hours into the flight, at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9,400 m), the plane received reports of severe clear-air turbulence in the area and the seat belt sign was turned on. Moments later, the aircraft suddenly dropped around 100 feet (30 m), seriously injuring 15 passengers and 3 crew members. The plane turned around and landed safely back in Tokyo, but one passenger, a 32-year-old Japanese woman, died.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Beachey</span> American aviator

Lincoln Beachey was a pioneer American aviator and barnstormer. He became famous and wealthy from flying exhibitions, staging aerial stunts, helping invent aerobatics, and setting aviation records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Lynn</span> American aerobatic pilot

Nancy A. Lynn was an aerobatic pilot, flight instructor, and air show performer. She owned and operated Lynn Aviation, an aerobatic flight school located at Bay Bridge Airport in Stevensville, Maryland with her husband Scott Muntean and son Pete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Loudenslager</span> American aviator

Leo Loudenslager was an American aviator. He is one of two aviators to have won seven national aerobatic titles and is one of only three Americans to win the World Aerobatics Championship title.

<i>Acrojet</i> 1985 video game

Acrojet is a flight simulator video game developed by MicroProse for the Commodore 64 and published in 1985. It was ported to Amstrad CPC, MSX, ZX Spectrum, NEC PC-8801, and NEC PC-9801. It emphasizes aerial acrobatic flying and maneuverability.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Clark</span> Aerobatic pilot

Julie E. Clark is a retired American aerobatic air show aviator and commercial airline pilot. She started her commercial flying career with Golden West Airlines as a first officer and ended it in 2003 as a Northwest Airlines Airbus A320 Captain. She was one of the first female pilots to work for a major airline, and has been voted as "Performer of the Year" several times for her air show performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betty Skelton</span> American aerobatic pilot, auto test driver, and advertising executive

Betty Skelton Frankman Erde was a land speed record holder and aerobatics pilot who set 17 aviation and automobile records. She was known as "The First Lady of Firsts", and helped create opportunities for women in aviation, auto racing, astronautics, and advertising.

<i>Flight</i> (2012 film) 2012 drama film by Robert Zemeckis

Flight is a 2012 American drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by John Gatins and produced by Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, Steve Starkey, Zemeckis, and Jack Rapke. Loosely inspired by the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, the film stars Denzel Washington as William "Whip" Whitaker Sr., an alcoholic airline pilot who miraculously crash-lands his plane after a mechanical failure, saving nearly everyone on board. Although hailed a hero, an investigation soon begins to cast the captain in a different light.

In aeronautics, loss of control (LOC) is the unintended departure of an aircraft from controlled flight, and is a significant factor in several aviation accidents worldwide. In 2015 was the leading cause of general aviation accidents. Loss of control may be the result of mechanical failure, external disturbances, aircraft upset conditions, or inappropriate crew actions or responses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asiana Airlines Flight 214</span> Transpacific flight that crashed on July 6, 2013

Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was a scheduled transpacific passenger flight originating from Incheon International Airport near Seoul, South Korea. On the morning of July 6, 2013, the Boeing 777-200ER operating the flight stalled and crashed on final approach into San Francisco International Airport in the United States. Of the 307 people on board, 3 died; another 187 were injured, 49 of them seriously. Among the seriously injured were four flight attendants who were thrown onto the runway while still strapped in their seats when the tail section broke off after striking the seawall short of the runway. It was the first fatal crash of a Boeing 777 since the aircraft type entered service in 1995.

Dorothy Hester Hofer Stenzel was an American aviator and stunt pilot. She had a groundbreaking stunt aerobatics career, often performing as "Princess-Kick-a-Hole-in-the-Sky", and later opened her own flight school in Cornelius, Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Dallas airshow mid-air collision</span> Fatal accident during an airshow in Texas, US

On November 12, 2022, two World War II-era aircraft, a B-17 Flying Fortress and a Bell P-63 Kingcobra, collided mid-air and crashed during the Wings Over Dallas airshow at Dallas Executive Airport in Dallas, Texas, United States. The collision occurred at 1:22 p.m. local time. The airshow, which coincided with Veterans Day commemorations, was organized by the Commemorative Air Force.

References

  1. ↑ Minnesota. Minnesota Birth Index, 1935-2002. Minneapolis, MN, USA: Minnesota Department of Health
  2. ↑ The Gopher, University of Minnesota Yearbooks, 1941-1948. http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/taxonomy/term/819 Archived 2017-06-06 at the Wayback Machine ; Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
  3. ↑ Ancestry.com. Washington, Marriage Records, 1854-2013 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
  4. ↑ Ancestry.com. California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007
  5. ↑ Ancestry.com. California, Divorce Index, 1966-1984 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
  6. ↑ Joann Osterud, “Joann Osterud’s Tails From the Field,” Concerned People For Animals, Inc. Newsletter, Vol. 12/Issue 23, http://www.dogsaver.org/concerned/CA%20Newsletters/200509FallCPA-Newsletter.pdf
  7. ↑ EAA Obituary, Joann Osterud, https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/apps/obituaries/obituary-details?ObitID=2932
  8. ↑ Roosevelt High School Yearbook “Strenuous Life”, 1964. Ancestry.com. U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 “Reed Afterlives: Stunt Pilot,” The Reed Magazine, Nov. 1991 https://rdc.reed.edu/c/reedhisttxt/s/r?_pp=20&query=osterud&s=4f6bbfa7f227939f13e8e60964af4557b1ead7b7&p=1&pp=1&part=1
  10. ↑ "Centralia High School Senior Recipient of Citizen Honor, Centralia Daily Chronicle September 17, 1968, p. 1; “A Rare and Exceptional Breed,” Reed Magazine, April 1981, https://rdc.reed.edu/c/reedhisttxt/s/r?_pp=20&query=joann%20osterud&s=800cc04d95457ae1ac7ba7f0b4be71a3038cc569&p=2&pp=1&part=1
  11. 1 2 Goldaper, Sam; Potter, Steve (1987-09-21). "SPORTS WORLD SPECIALS; Flying Low". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  12. ↑ "Whirly-Girl," Independent Press Telegram January 9, 1971, p. 2
  13. ↑ "Woman Pilot," Glens Falls Post Star May 22, 1975, p. 7. Newspaper Archive.
  14. ↑ Abbotsford Air Show website: https://www.abbotsfordairshow.com/about/history/
  15. ↑ "Joann Osterud '68".
  16. ↑ “A Rare and Exceptional Breed,” Reed Magazine, April 1981, https://rdc.reed.edu/c/reedhisttxt/s/r?_pp=20&query=osterud&s=4f6bbfa7f227939f13e8e60964af4557b1ead7b7&p=2&pp=1&part=1
  17. ↑ Museum of Flight Facebook Post, Nov. 15, 2013, https://www.facebook.com/8855517223/posts/10152299668227224
  18. 1 2 "Stephens Akro | the Museum of Flight".
  19. ↑ From Critical Mass to Critical Acclaim, http://www.warbirdaeropress.com/articles/Critical%20Mass.htm
  20. 1 2 3 Sam Moses, “Sky Princess Passes on Her Scepter,” Sports Illustrated, Dec. 18, 1989. https://www.si.com/vault/1989/12/18/121278/sky-princess-passes-on-her-scepter
  21. 1 2 Ann Lewis Cooper, Stars of the Sky, Legends All Zenith Press, 2008, p. 144-145
  22. ↑ “Flip-Flop Flier,” People, Aug. 12, 1991, http://people.com/archive/flip-flop-flier-vol-36-no-5/
  23. 1 2 Rhonda Nowak, “Oxnard: Pilot Sets Records by Flying Upside Down,” LA Times, Aug. 1, 1991. http://articles.latimes.com/1991-08-01/local/me-200_1_pilot-sets
  24. ↑ "Air Show Packed A Whallop," Lethbridge Herald August 16, 1992, p. 1
  25. ↑ "Please Don't Attempt This At Home," Santa Ana Orange County Register May 1, 1995, p. 19; NTSB Accident Report: http://www.asias.faa.gov/pls/apex/f?p=100:17:0::NO::AP_BRIEF_RPT_VAR:LAX97LA155
  26. ↑ NTSB Accident Report: http://www.asias.faa.gov/pls/apex/f?p=100:17:0::NO::AP_BRIEF_RPT_VAR:LAX97LA155
  27. ↑ "20001208X07752-20210824-35816".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.