Silva McLeod | |
---|---|
Born | 1961 (age 63–64) Pangaimotu |
Other names | Vaisiliva McLeod |
Occupation(s) | Pilot, writer |
Years active | 1992 to present |
Employer(s) | Royal Tongan Airlines Aeropelican Air Services |
Known for | Tonga's first woman pilot |
Silva McLeod (born 1961) is a Tongan pilot and writer, who in 1992, according to the Australian Aviation Authority, became the first woman from Tonga to be awarded a pilot's license. [1] [2]
McLeod grew up on the island of Pangaimotu in Vava’u, [3] in a home without electricity. [1] As a child had an intense interest in aeroplanes, watching them fly over her house as often as she could. [1] After her marriage in 1980, [2] she moved to Australia in 1981, [4] later living in Melbourne, [5] and it was her husband who purchased her first flying lessons for her. [1] In 1992, according to the Australian Aviation Authority, became the first woman from Tonga to be awarded a pilot's license. [1] [2] By 1998, [4] at the age of 37, McLeod was working full time as a captain for Royal Tongan Airlines. [1] She has also flown for Aeropelican Air Services, Royal Flying Doctor Service and for Virgin International, the latter including Boeing 737 and Boeing 777 aircraft. [5] [6] McLeod also experienced racism and sexism, whilst working as a pilot. [2]
In 2023, McLeod published her memoir Island Girl to Airline Pilot. [1] [3] [7] [8]
Long Island MacArthur Airport, formerly known as Islip Airport, is a public airport in Ronkonkoma, New York, within the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, on Long Island. Covering 1,311 acres (531 ha), the airport was established in 1942, was activated in 1943, and began serving as a commercial airport in 1960. It has three runways and two helipads.
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Pangaimotu is an island in the Vava'u Group of Tonga. It is reachable by a 5-minute boat trip from Neiafu, the capital of Vava'u. The population is 696. Tonga's first woman pilot, Silva McLeod was born here.
As female residents of Tonga, women in Tonga had been described in 2000 by the Los Angeles Times as members of Tongan society who traditionally have a "high position in Tongan society" due to the country's partly matriarchal foundation but "can't own land", "subservient" to husbands in terms of "domestic affairs" and "by custom and law, must dress modestly, usually in Mother Hubbard-style dresses hemmed well below the knee". Based on the "superficial dealings" of LA Times Travel Writer, Susan Spano with the women of Tonga in 2000, she found that Tongan women were a "little standoffish", while Patricia Ledyard, former headmistress of a missionary school for girls in Tonga, confirmed that such "aloofness" of Tongan women were due to the nation's "rigid class system" and the country's "efforts to retain its cultural identity". There were presence of Tongan women who are professionals engaged in jobs as travel agents, as vendors selling an "exotic cornucopia of root vegetables and tropical fruit(s)", and as basket weavers.
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