An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they are involved in operating the aircraft's navigation and engine systems. Other aircrew members, such as drone operators, flight attendants, mechanics and ground crew, are not classified as aviators.
Bessie Coleman was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first person of self-identified Native American descent to hold a pilot license. She earned her license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921, and is the earliest known Black person to earn an international pilot's license.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1934:
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1921:
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1919:
Geraldyn M. Cobb , commonly known as Jerrie Cobb, was an American pilot and aviator. She was also part of the Mercury 13, a group of women who underwent physiological screening tests at the same time as the original Mercury Seven astronauts. She was the first to complete each of the tests.
A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and dogfighting. A fighter pilot with at least five air-to-air kills becomes known as an ace.
Angela Masson is an American pilot and artist. She was the first woman to be type-rated on the Boeing 747 on June 30, 1984.
Lynn Rippelmeyer is the first woman to fly the Boeing 747, the first woman to captain a 747 trans-oceanic, part of the first all-female crew, and first flight attendant to become an airline pilot. In retirement, she authored two books to chronicle her aviation journey - Life Takes Wings and Life Takes Flight and founded the nonprofit, ROSE - Roatan Support Effort.
Emily Joyce Howell Warner was an American airline pilot and the first woman captain of a scheduled U.S. airline.
Yvonne Pope Sintes was a South African-born British aviator. She was the first female air traffic controller at Gatwick airport and later became Britain's first female commercial airline captain.
Women have been involved in aviation from the beginnings of both lighter-than air travel and as airplanes, helicopters and space travel were developed. Women pilots were also formerly called "aviatrices". Women have been flying powered aircraft since 1908; prior to 1970, however, most were restricted to working privately or in support roles in the aviation industry. Aviation also allowed women to "travel alone on unprecedented journeys". Women who have been successful in various aviation fields have served as mentors to younger women, helping them along in their careers.
Maria Ziadie-Haddad is an airline pilot from Jamaica. She was the first woman commercial pilot hired by Air Jamaica and upon obtaining her qualifications as a captain became Air Jamaica's first woman captain. When the government divested its holding in the firm, Ziadie Haddad began flying commercial freight in the United States.
Patrice Washington is a Bahamian airplane pilot, whose career was marked by a series of firsts. She was the first black woman graduate of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida; first woman pilot of Bahamasair; first black woman captain of a major U.S. air service and first black female pilot hired by the United Parcel Service.
Mary Chance VanScyoc was an air traffic controller in the United States. She was one of the first women, and often considered the very first civilian woman, to become an air traffic controller when she started in June 1942.
Moretta Fenton Beall "Molly" Reilly became the first female Canadian pilot to reach the rank of captain, the first female Canadian corporate pilot, and the first woman to fly to the Arctic professionally. Her modifications to the Beechcraft Duke were used to improve the aircraft. Over the course of her career, Reilly logged over 10,000 flight hours as a pilot-in-command — without a single accident. She is a member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.
Tammie Jo Shults is an American retired commercial airline captain, author, and former naval aviator. She was one of the first female fighter pilots to serve in the United States Navy. Following active duty she became a pilot for Southwest Airlines. She retired from Southwest Airlines in 2020.
Fanny "Shotty" Chollet is the first woman in Switzerland to fly a jet fighter plane, the F/A-18. She is a career officer in the Swiss Air Force and currently holds the rank of captain.
Robert Ashby was a U.S. Army Air Force/U.S. Air Force officer and pilot with the all-African American 332nd Fighter Group – Tuskegee Airmen. He was one of the 1007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots.
