The aviation sector is always challenging and exhilarating one. Being considered as a male-dominated field, women have made some significant contributions to the aerospace industry. Though globally only about 3% pilots are women i.e. 4000 out of 130,000 pilots as per BBC news, still many women have contributed astonishingly in this sector and they are the inspirations for the next generations.
Here, we are mentioning top 5 inspiring women from the world of aviation
1. Raymonde de Laroche (1910, France): Raymonde de Laroche was the first women pilot who received a pilot’s license on March 8, 1910. She was the inspiration for many women and encouraged others to follow her steps. She was born in 1882 and died at the age of 36 in 1919. In the year 1919, she was co-piloted a new aircraft at Le Bourget Airport, France, but unfortunately, the aircraft was crashed and she died along with her co-pilot. “Women of Worldwide Aviation Week” is celebrated every year in March to give honour to her achievements as a woman pilot.
2. Harriet Quimby (1911, America): she was born in the year 1875 in Arcadia, America. She was the first lady who received a pilot’s license from the Aero Club of America. Not only that, she also became the first woman to fly successfully across the English Channel in 1912. On the same year when she became the first woman to travel across the English Channel, she died a few months afterward in Boston during the third annual Boston Aviation Meet. At that time she ejected and fell to her death from 3,000 feet.
3. Amy Johnson (1930, British): She is another women eminent pilot who is a great inspiration for the next generations. She was born in the year 1903. Only one year after getting her pilot’s license in 1929, she became the first female pilot who did a solo fly from Britain to Australia. Before that, her longest solo flight was between London to Hull. She travelled near about 11,000 miles in 19 days, with an eventful landing in Darwin. Though her aircraft got damage in the last fly, still she managed it. She also flew in the Second World War in the Air Transport Auxiliary. Because of this achievement, she received the Harmon Trophy as well as well as a CBE in George V’s 1930 Birthday Honours. She died in the year 1941 during the Second World War due to hostile weather conditions.
4. Emily Howell Warner (1973): Before 1973, women pilots were not chosen into the commercial spotlight. But in 1973, Emily Howell Warner eventually broke this spell when she became the first female commercial pilot. She got hired at Frontier Airlines. Not only this, she became the first female pilot who selected as a captain for a commercial airline. She was also a flight instructor and a qualified FAA examiner who had over 21,000 flight hours and had conducted over 3,000 check rides. Because of her extraordinary achievements, in the year 1973, she received the Amelia Earhart award for advancements in the aviation industry which is always a very male-dominated sector. In the year 2014, she was welcomed into the Aviation Hall of Fame too.
5. Wang Zheng (Julie Wang, China, 2016): She is a famous name in the sector of the aerospace industry. She received her pilot’s certificate in the year 2011. Julie Wang became the first Asian woman in the world to circumnavigate the planet by aeroplane in 2016. With the help of a modified Cirrus SR-22, Julie Wang covered nearly 21,000 miles in 18 flying days, including 24 different countries. She is the first Chinese female pilot who holds the three types of FAA rating approvals being CFI, CFII, and MEI and also holds a flight instructor rating under the FAA too. At the age of 45, she is thriving rapidly and has become the inspiration of many women who have a strong desire to fly. She is one of the only nine women pilots to circumnavigate the world.
These are the 5 prominent women in the field of aviation industry who have done some astounding work in this field. So, now aviation sector is no more male-dominated one because there are many more women pilots who are ardently serving the customers with their skills and expertise.
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