Rosella Bjornson
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Rosella Marie Bjornson was born on July 13, 1947, in Lethbridge, Alta. She was raised on her parents' farm near Champion and attended high school in nearby Vulcan. She showed enthusiasm for flying at an early age because of her father's interest. Ken Bjornson learned to fly in 1946 and took his daughter flying in his Aeronca Champ from the time she was a very young child.
Rosella had her first flying lesson on her 17th birthday at the Lethbridge Flying Club and completed her Private Pilot's Licence in 2 months. She attended the University of Calgary where she majored in geography and geology. During this time she accumulated flying hours and studied for her Commercial Licence, which she obtained in 1967. In the same year, she experienced competitive flying by entering the Alberta Centennial Air Race. She and her female co-pilot secured a first place finish by completing the race with the exact estimate of their flight time and within one tenth of a gallon of their fuel consumption estimate.
While on campus, Rosella was instrumental in organizing the University of Calgary Flying Club. She also devoted time to the first group of Girl Guide Air Rangers in Calgary and started the ground work which led to the formation of an Alberta Flying Farmer Teen Chapter.
In 1969, Rosella received her Instructor's Rating and began instructing at the Flying Club in Winnipeg. Within a year she had earned her Class II Instructor's Rating. On May 25, 1972, she was awarded the 89th Gold Seal of Proficiency from the Royal Canadian Flying Clubs Association. While in Winnipeg, she was involved in organizing the Manitoba Chapter of the Ninety-Nines, the International organization of Women Pilots. During her final year of instructing, she devoted her spare time to training a Squadron of Air Cadets.
By 1973, Rosella had 3,500 hours flying time, an Air Transport Rating and a Class I Multi-engine Instrument Rating, and applied to fly with the airlines. She was hired as a First Officer at Transair, the fourth largest airline in Canada. This gave her the distinction of being the first female to be hired as First Officer in North America on scheduled jet equipment, and the first female to be hired by a commercial air line in Canada. She was the first female member of the Canadian Air Line Pilots Association.
In June 1977, Rosella married Bill Pratt, a corporate pilot flying out of Winnipeg. The onset of her pregnancy in 1979 created another first in that there was no precedent set for a pregnant pilot. She took a personal leave of absence (sick leave was not appropriate in her case) and returned to work in 1980 as First Officer on the Boeing 737 with Pacific Western Airlines (PWA), which had purchased Transair.
The family moved to Edmonton and both Rosella and her husband flew for PWA. After a second pregnancy in 1984, she was involved in discussions with Transport Canada regarding regulations dealing with pregnant pilots. Subsequently, the regulations were changed to allow a pilot who is pregnant to fly "while under her doctor's supervision". Bjornson again returned to work as First Officer on the Boeing 737 at a new airline, Canadian Airlines International, which had formed by merging PWA, CP Air, Eastern Provincial Airlines and Nordair.
Rosella received a number of prestigious awards in 1988. In June, she was inducted into the International Forest of Friendship in Atchison, Kansas. A Certification of Appreciation in recognition of her leaderships in the activities of the organization was presented to her by the International Organization of Ninety-Nines in Oklahoma City. In October of that year, she received a Pioneering Award from the Western Canada Aviation Museum in Winnipeg.
In the winter of 1990, Rosella became the first female Captain with Canadian Airlines International and the first woman to be promoted to Captain with a major Canadian air carrier.
In 1991, Rosella received the National Award of Achievement at the National Transportation Day kick-off celebrations in Halifax in May. She also was the recipient of the Manitoba Award of Achievement at the NTW Conference in Winnipeg on June 6. The Award of Achievement is presented for innovation and initiative in bringing positive and measurable improvements of significant and enduring benefit to transport in Canada.
Throughout her career, Rosella has made a valuable and ongoing contribution to the youth of the nation by participating in school career days. In 1990, she was featured in a poster campaign by the Alberta Government, "Dream/Dare/Do", encouraging young people to set goals and strive towards them.
Rosella Marie Bjornson was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1997.
