Timeline of women in aviation

This is a timeline of women in aviation which describes many of the firsts and achievements of women as pilots and other roles in aviation. Women who are part of this list have piloted vehicles, including hot-air balloons, gliders, airplanes, dirigibles and helicopters. Some women have been instrumental in support roles. Others have made a name for themselves as parachutists and other forms of flight-related activities. This list encompasses women's achievements from around the globe.

Eighteenth century

1784

• June 4: Marie Élisabeth Thible of France becomes the first woman to fly in a hot-air balloon.^[1]

1798

• Jeanne Labrosse in France becomes the first woman to pilot any aircraft solo.^[1]

1799

• Labrosse becomes the first woman to parachute jump.^[1]

Nineteenth century

1810

• Sophie Blanchard becomes Napoleon's chief of air service.^[2]

1811

• Wilhelmine Reichard is the first German woman to make a solo flight in a balloon.^[3]

1886

• Mary Myers of the United States sets an altitude record with a balloon, rising four miles in the air.^[4]

1888

• Teresa Martinez y Perez is issued a British patent for "Navigable balloons."^[5]

Twentieth century

1903

• Aida de Acosta of the United States the first woman to pilot a motorized aircraft (a dirigible) solo.^[1]

1904

• Queen Margherita of Italy creates the Roman Aero Club for ballooning.^[6]

1908

• May-June 1908: Mlle P. Van Pottelsberghe de la Poterie of Belgium flies with Henri Farman on several short flights at an airshow in Ghent, Belgium becoming the first woman passenger on an airplane.^[7]
• September: Thérèse Peltier of France made the first solo flight by a woman in an airplane in Turin, Italy, flying around 200 meters in a straight line about two and a half meters off the ground.^[8]
• October 7: Edith Berg, business manager in Europe for the Wright Brothers became the first American woman to fly as a passenger.^[9]

1909

• Marie Marvingt of France is the first woman to fly over the North Sea.^[1]
• Raymonde de Laroche of France is the first woman to pilot a solo flight in an airplane.^[10]
• June 16: La Stella, the first aero club for women, opens in Saint-Cloud near Paris^[11][12]

1910

• March 8: Raymonde de Laroche of France becomes the world's first woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• August 29: Marthe Niel of France becomes the world's second woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• September 3: Hélène Dutrieu of Belgium is the first woman in the world to fly with a passenger.^[1]
• November 8 : Marie Marvingt of France becomes the world's third woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• November 25: Hélène Dutrieu becomes the first Belgian woman and the fourth worldwide to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• December 7 : Jeanne Herveu of France becomes the world's fifth woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• Hilda Hewlett of England is the first woman to co-found a flight school.

1911

• June 15 : Marie-Louise Driancourt of France becomes the world's sixth woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• Hélène Dutrieu is the first woman to win an air race.^[1]
• August 1:^[13] Harriet Quimby becomes the first United States and the world seventh woman to earn a pilot's license.^[9]
• August 10: Lydia Zvereva is the first Russian and the world eighth woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• August 29: Hilda Hewlett becomes the first English woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13] She later becomes the first woman to teach her child to fly in the same year.^[1]
• September 13: Amelie Beese becomes the first German and the world ninth woman with a pilot's license.^[13]
• October 6: Beatrix de Rijk is the first Dutch and the world tenth woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• October 10: Božena Laglerová is the first Czech woman to earn her pilot's license.^[13]
• November 19: Lyubov Golanchikova becomes the first Estonian woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]

1912

• Amelie Beese of Germany is the first woman to patent an aircraft design.^[1]
• Hélène Dutrieu is the first woman to pilot a seaplane.^[1]
• April 16: Quimby is the first woman to fly across the English Channel.^[9]
• August 15: Lilly Steinschneider becomes the first Hungarian woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• Hilda Hewlett is the first woman to co-found an aircraft factory

1913

• January 3: Rosina Ferrario is the first Italian woman to earn her pilot's license.^[13]
• June 21, 1913: Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick is the first woman to jump from an aircraft, dropping from 2,000 feet in Los Angeles.^[14]
• December 1, Lyubov Golanchikova became the first test pilot.^[15]
• Ruth Law is the first woman to fly at night.^[10]
• Katherine Stinson and her mother start the Stinson Aviation Company.^[10] Stinson also becomes the first commissioned woman airmail pilot and first woman to do night skywriting in the same year.^[1]
• Ann Maria Bocciarelli, of South Africa is the first woman in Africa to earn a recreational pilot's license.^[16]
• Käthe Paulus develops the first modern parachute which fit inside of a "pocket" or bag.^[17]

1914

• 1914: Lydia Zvereva is the first woman to perform an aerobatic maneuver (a loop).^[1]
• February 6: Elena Caragiani-Stoenescu becomes the first Romanian woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• May 11: Else Haugk is the first Swiss woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• October 1: Amalia Celia Figueredo becomes the first woman in Argentina to earn a pilot's license.^[13]

1915

• Marie Marving of France is the first woman to fly in combat.^[1]

1916

• Zhang Xiahun (Chinese: 張俠魂) became China's first female pilot^[18][19]

1921

• Bessie Coleman is the first African American to earn a pilot's license.^[20]
• Adrienne Bolland becomes the first woman to fly over the Andes.^[1]
• May: Carmela Combre was the first woman to pilot a plane in Peru, though she never attained a license.^[21]
• October: Violet Guirola de Avila of El Salvador completed a flight in Guatemala becoming the first Salvadoran female pilot.^[22]

1922

• March 15: Bolivian aviator Amalia Villa de la Tapia was the first woman pilot licensed in Peru.^[23][24]
• April 8: Teresa De Marzo is the first Brazilian woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• Tadashi Hyōdō becomes the first Japanese woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• Anesia Pinheiro Machado earns the Aero Club of Brazil Brevet No. 77 for her solo flight. She becomes the first woman pilot in Brazil to carry passengers.^[25]

1924

• November 24: María Bernaldo de Quirós (1898–1983) is the first Spanish woman to receive a pilot's licence.^[26]

1925

• Kwon Ki-ok is the first Korean woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• Gladys Sandford becomes the first woman in New Zealand to earn her pilot's license.^[13]

1926

• Millicent Bryant is the first Australian woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]

1927

• Marga von Etzdorf of Germany is the first woman to fly for an airline.^[1]
• Millicent Bryant is the first Australian woman to earn a pilot's license.^[27]
• Dagny Berger is the first Norwegian woman to receive a flying certificate.^[28]

1928

• February-May: Mary, Lady Heath an Irish woman, became the first aviatrix to fly from Cape Town, South Africa to Croydon Aerodrome in London.^[29]
• March-April: Mary Bailey of England was the first woman to fly solo from England to South Africa.^[1]
• Maria de Lourdes Sá Teixeira of Portugal earns the first pilot's license for a woman in her country.^[30]
• Eileen Vollick is the first Canadian woman to earn her pilot's license.^[13]
• Maria Bernaldo de Quiros becomes the first woman from Spain to earn a pilot's license.^[13]
• Janet Bragg is the first woman admitted to the Curtiss-Wright School of Aeronautics.^[31]
• Park Kyung-won became the first Korean woman to earn a 2nd class pilot's license.^[32]

1929

• The Federation Aeronautique Internationale creates a new category for records set by women pilots.^[33]
• Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes becomes the first stunt pilot, working in Hollywood.^[1]
• Phyllis Arnott is the first Australian woman to earn a Commercial Pilot's License, however, she only flew for pleasure.^[34]
• Elsie MacGill of Canada becomes the first woman to earn a master's degree in aeronautical engineering.^[35]
• Audrey Fiander becomes the first woman pilot in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe.^[36]
• March 16: Louise Thaden does the women's endurance record with a time of 22 hours and 3 minutes.^[37]
• August 18: First Women's Air Derby is held in the United States. Louise Thaden was the winner.^[38]
• November 2: The Ninety Nines were founded to create a group to support and mentor women in aviation.^[39]

1930

• Amy Johnson is the first woman pilot to fly from England to Australia.^[1]
• Elinor Smith and Evelyn Trout of the US are the first women to refuel a plane in flight.^[1]
• Mary Riddle becomes the first Native American to earn a pilot's license. She was a member of the Clatsop and Quinault Tribes.^[40]
• Ellen Church convinced Boeing Air Transport to hire the first flight attendants, herself and 7 other women who were required to be nurses, unmarried and weigh under 115 pounds.^[41][42]
• January: Aris Emma Walder became Uruguay's first woman pilot when she attained her license in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the Morón Aerodrome in a Curtiss JN-4D.^[43]
• March: Berta Moraleda performed in an airshow and in May having completed her training at the Escuela de Aviación Curtiss, became the first woman pilot in Cuba^[44][45]
• May: Laura Ingalls, a distance and stunt pilot from New York, set a stunt record of 980 consecutive, continuous loops in a little less than 4 hours at Hatbox Field in Muskogee, Oklahoma.^[46]
• July: Graciela Cooper Godoy obtained the first license for a woman pilot in Chile.^[47]
• September: Maryse Bastié of France broke the sustained flight endurance record for women, remaining aloft for 38 hours.^[48]

1931

• August 5: Kate Paulus makes her final balloon flight at age 63. She had over 510 logged balloon flights and over 150 parachute jumps to her credit.^[49]
• Anne Morrow Lindbergh becomes the first US woman to earn a glider pilot's license.^[9]
• Marga von Etzdorf is the first woman to fly over Siberia.^[1]

1932

• British-trained Ruthy Tu is the first Chinese woman to earn a pilot's license^[13][50] and first woman to join the Chinese Army as a pilot.^[51]
• Amelia Earhart is the first woman pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.^[1]
• Maude Bonney becomes the first woman to do a round-Australia flight.^[52]
• Urmila K. Parekh became the first Indian woman granted a pilots license.^[53]
• Hermelinda Urvina of Ecuador becomes the first woman in the country to earn a pilot's license.^[54]
• Emma Catalina Encinas Aguayo earned the first woman pilot's license in Mexico.^[55][56]
• March 30: Katherine Sui Fun Cheung became the first Chinese woman to earn a pilot's license in the United States.^[57][58]

1933

• Bedriye Tahir is the first Turkish woman to earn her pilot's license.^[13]
• Lotfia ElNadi becomes the first Arab woman, first African woman, and first woman in Egypt to earn a pilot's license.^[59]
• Maryse Hilsz of France is the first woman pilot to fly from Beijing to Paris.^[1]
• Fay Gillis Wells is the first American woman to fly a Soviet-made airplane.^[60]
• Carola Lorenzini was the first Argentine pilot certified as a flight instructor.^[61]

1934

• October 23: Balloonist, Jeannette Piccard becomes the first woman to reach the stratosphere.^[62]
• December 31: Helen Richey becomes the first women to pilot a commercial airliner.^[63] She later resigns because she is not allowed into the all-male pilot's union and rarely allowed to fly.^[64]
• Marie Marvingt is the first woman to run a civil air ambulance service.^[1]
• Marina Mikhailovna Raskova of Russia is the first woman to instruct at a military flight academy.^[1]
• Jean Batten of New Zealand is the first woman to do the "England to Australia" round trip.^[1]
• Maryse Hilsz of France is the first woman to do the "Paris to Tokyo" round trip.^[1]
• Maude Bonney is the first woman awarded a Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) award for her "contribution to aviation."^[52]

1935

• Marie Marving becomes the first person to "practice aviation para-medicine."^[1]
• Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly a solo round-trip from Hawaii to the continental US.^[1]
• Nancy Bird Walton is the first Australian woman to hold a license to allow her to carry passengers.^[27]
• Lee Ya-Ching, a Chinese actress, becomes the first woman to be licensed by the Boeing School of Aeronautics.^[65]
• Phyllis Doreen Hooper earned the first women pilot's license in South Africa.^[66]
• Ada Rogato becomes the first woman licensed glider pilot.^[67]
• Katherine Sui Fun Cheung, earned the first commercial license issued to a woman of China.^[68][69]

1936

• Sarla Thakral becomes the first Indian woman to earn her private pilot's license.^[13]
• Beryl Markham from England is the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west.^[1]
• Lee Ya-Ching becomes the first woman to be licensed as a pilot in China.^[65]
• Phyllis Doreen Hooper earned the first women commercial pilot license in South Africa.^[66]
• Mulumebet Emeru was the first woman pilot of Ethiopia. She was a student, but her flight training was interrupted by the Italian invasion of Ethiopia^[70]

1937

• Willa Brown is the first African American woman to earn her pilot's license in the United States.^[71]
• Sabiha Gökçen of Turkey is the first woman combat pilot.^[1]
• Hanna Reitsch of Germany is the first woman to earn a helicopter license.^[1]
• Maude Bonney is the first woman to fly solo from Australia to South Africa.^[52]
• Susana Ferrari Billinghurst was the first woman commercial pilot of Argentina.^[61]

1938

• Phyllis Doreen Hooper became the first female flight instructor in South Africa.^[66]
• Hanna Reitsch of Germany is the first person to fly a helicopter inside of a building. She flew a Focke-Achgelis Fa-61 inside of the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin.^[72]
• Berta Servián de Flores became the first Paraguayan woman to earn a pilot's license.^[73]

1939

• Ruth Nichols founds Relief Wings to "coordinate private aircraft for emergency and disaster relief."^[10]
• Inés Thomann became the first Peruvian woman pilot, when she was licensed at the Escuela de Aviación de "Las Palmas".^[21]
• May 15: Soviet, A. Kondratyeva, sets a record flight of 22 hours and 40 minutes from Moscow to Lukino Polie in a balloon.^[49]
• November 13: María Calcaño Ruiz (also known as Mary Calcaño, later Keeler), became the first Venezuelan woman pilot, attaining her license in Long Island, New York. Her Venezuelan license was issued the following month.^[74][75][76]
• November 17: South Africa creates the Women's Auxiliary Air Force to the South African Air Force.^[77]
• December 5: The South African Women's Aviation Association (SAWAA) is formed with 110 women as first members.^[77]

1940

• Effat Tejaratchi becomes the first Iranian woman to earn her pilot's license.^[13]
• January 1: The first eight women were appointed to the Air Transport Auxiliary.^[78]
• Major Phyllis Dunning (née Phyllis Doreen Hooper) became the first South African woman to enter full-time military service as the Commander of the South African Women's Auxiliary Air Force (SAWAAF)^[79]
• Mirta Vanni became the first woman commercial pilot in Uruguay.^[80]

1941

• July 2: Canada creates the Canadian Women's Auxiliary Air Force (CWAAF).^[81]
• Oct 8: Joseph Stalin creates 3 regiments of women pilots for the Soviet Union military, of which the 588th Regiment is later called the Night Witches.^[82]
• Jacqueline Cochran of the United States is the first woman to fly a bomber across the North Atlantic.^[1]
• Ada Rogato becomes the first certified woman paratrooper in Brazil.^[67]

1942

• September 14: General Henry Arnold approves the program that created the United States Army Air Forces Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD).^[83]
• June 1: Mary Chance VanScyoc becomes the United States' first female civilian air-traffic controller.^[84]

1943

• Janet Bragg becomes the first African American woman to earn a commercial pilot's license.^[85]

• Hazel Ying Lee is the first Chinese American woman to fly as a WASP pilot for the US military.
• Lidya Litvyak and Katya Budanova of Russia are the first and only women to receive the Ace Pilot designation.^[1]
• Dora Koeppen, a licensed pilot, became the first stewardess for Chile's LAN Airlines.^[86][47]
• July 1: Luisa Elena Contreras Mattera was the first Venezuelan woman to be granted a license after training in Venezuela^[87]
• August 5: The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program was formed in the United States by merging WFTD and WAFS.^[83][88]

1944

• December 20: The WASPs were disbanded and the women in the program provided no benefits for those who served.^[89]

1945

• Betty Greene, a former WASP, became the first pilot for the Mission Aviation Fellowship.^[90]
• Valérie André, a neurosurgeon and member of the French army, became the first woman to fly a helicopter in combat, while serving in Indochina.^[91]
• The Air Transport Auxiliary is disbanded.^[78]
• Margot Duhalde of Chile became the first female pilot in the Free French Air Forces.^[92]
• August: South African Rosamund Steenkamp became the first woman in the world to fly a jet, when she flew a Gloster Meteor III, still in its experimental stages, for the British Air Transport's Auxiliary Service.^[93]

1946

• María Quelquejeu became the first woman pilot of Panama.^[94]

1947

• Prem Mathur became the first woman commercial pilot in India,^[95] flying for Deccan Airways.^[53]

1948

• Isabella Ribeiro de Cabral is the first woman from Trinidad and Tobago to earn a pilot's license.^[96]
• Ada Rogato of Brazil becomes the first woman agricultural pilot.^[1]

1949

• Margaret Clarke becomes Australia's first agricultural pilot.^[97]
• Dorothy Layne McIntyre became the first African-American woman licensed as a pilot by the Civil Aeronautics Authority.^[98]

1950

• September 16: Thirty five women, including Nancy-Bird Walton, create the Australian Women Pilots' Association (AWPA).^[99]

1951

• Touria Chaoui is the first woman from Morocco to earn her pilot's license.^[13]
• Myriam Ben is the first Algerian woman to earn a pilot's license.^[13]

1952

• Patricia Graham is the first Australian woman pilot to work in New Guinea.^[100]
• Touria Chaoui becomes the first Moroccan and second Arab woman pilot.^[101]
• Earsley Barnett, American wife of Major Carl Barnett, founder of Wings Jamaica, obtained the first woman pilot's license in Jamaica.^[102]
• Kim Kyung-Oh of Korea became commissioned as the first woman lieutenant in the 1st combat wing of the Republic of Korea Air Force.^[103]

1953

• May 20: Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.^[37]
• American Airlines puts a cap on their stewardesses' continued employment, terminating their service when women turn 32.^[104]

1954

• Kim Kyung-Oh of Korea was promoted as a captain in the ROK Air Force, becoming the sole woman pilot involved in the Korean War for the South Koreans.^[103]

1955

• Jacqueline Auriol of France is the first Frenchwoman to earn a test pilot license.^[1]
• Jean Ross Howard Phelan founds the Whirly-Girls, an organization for women helicopter pilots.^[105]
• The British Women Pilots' Association (BWPA) is formed.^[106]

1956

• Ada Rogato is the first pilot to cross the Amazon rainforest solo using a single engine aircraft.^[1]
• Betty Greene was the first woman to fly in Sudan, having had to obtain a special dispensation from the Sudanese Parliament before a woman was allowed to fly.^{[107][108][109]}

1958

• February 11: Ruth Carol Taylor is the first African-American flight attendant on a flight from Ithaca to New York City.^[20]
• Dorothy Rungeling is the first Canadian woman to solo pilot a helicopter.^[110]
• Letitia Chitty is the first woman admitted as a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS).^[111]

1959

• Molly Reilly is the first Canadian woman to become a civilian pilot.^[112]
• Based on the success of the Australian Women's Pilots' Association, Rhona Fraser and Ena Monk create the New Zealand Association of Women in Aviation (NZAWA).^[113]

1960

• Olga Tarling becomes the first woman air traffic controller in Australia.^[114]
• Yvonne Pope Sintes and Frankie O'Kane become the first female British air traffic controllers.^[78]
• Alia Menchari became the first woman Tunisian pilot.^[115]

1961

• Lucille Golas attained the first pilot license for a woman in Guyana to assist her husband in his mining business.^[116]

1962

• Jacqueline Cochran is the first woman to fly a jet across the Atlantic Ocean.^[1]
• Asegedech Assefa became the first Ethiopian woman to earn a pilot's license.^[117]

1963

• Valentina Tereshkova becomes the world's first woman to fly in space.^[37]
• Betty Miller is the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.^[118]
• Anne Spoerry, French doctor living in Kenya became the first female member of the African Medical and Research Foundation's "Flying Doctors".^[119]
• April 17: Eight stewardesses from the flight attendant union speak out against the policy of retiring stewardesses at age 32 during a press conference.^[104]

1964

• Geraldine Mock is the first woman to fly around the world.^[37]

1965

• September 2: On Stewardesses' Day in the US House of Representatives helped show "public disfavor with airline age discrimination."^[104]

1967

• The India's Women Pilot Association (IWPA) is formed with charter members, Chanda Sawant Budhabhatti, Mohini Shroff, Rabia Fatehally, Sunila Bhajekar and Durba Banerjee.^[120]

1969

• Kucki Low (née von Gerlach) obtained the first woman pilot's license in South West Africa, now Namibia.^[121]
• Turi Widerøe of Norway becomes the first female pilot for Scandinavian Airlines System.^[122]

1970

• Rosella Bjorson is the first Canadian commercial airline pilot.^[112]
• Beverly Roediger is the first woman to earn a commercial pilot license in Papua New Guinea.^[123]

1971

• Louise Sacchi sets a speed record flying a single-engine land plane from New York to London in 17 hours and 10 minutes.^{[124][125][126][127]}
• The Association Française des Femmes Pilotes is formed in France.^[128]

1972

• Yvonne Pope Sintes becomes Britain's first woman commercial airline pilot.^[129]

1973

• Kucki Low, Namibian pilot is hired as the first woman commercial airline pilot in South Africa, flying for Namaqualand Airways.^[130]
• Bonnie Tiburzi is the first woman hired by American Airlines.^[131]
• The United States Navy allows women to train as pilots.^[132]

1974

• Mary Barr becomes the first woman pilot to work for the Forest Service in the United States.^[37]
• Emily Howell Warner becomes the first woman member of the Air Line Pilot's Association.^[133]

1975

• Yola Cain became the first Jamaican-born commercial pilot and flight instructor.^[102]

1976

• Emily Howell Warner becomes the first woman in the United States to work as an airline captain.^[133]
• Yola Cain became the first woman pilot hired by the Jamaica Defence Force.^[134]
• 9 September 1976 Asli Hassan Abade soloed her first flight as the only female pilot in the Somali Air Force.^[135][136]

1977

• September 2: Ten women graduated from UPT Class 77-08, earning their silver wings for the United States Air Force. The women who started and graduated were Connie Engel, Kathy LaSauce, Mary Donahue, Susan Rogers, Christine Schott, Sandra Scott, Victoria Crawford, Mary Livingston, Carol Scherer and Kathleen Rambo.^[137]
• November: President Carter signs a bill giving all former WASPS World War II veterans' status.^[89]
• Beverly Drake and Cheryl Pickering became the first two women pilots of the Guyana Defence Force.^[138][139]
• Beverley Drake of Guyana was the first female pilot of the Guyana Airways Corporation.^[140]
• Barbara Adams of Guyana became the first licensed woman helicopter pilot in her country after training in Scotland.^[141]

1978

• The first African American woman to fly for a commercial airline in the United States is Jill Brown-Hiltz when she joins Texas International Airlines as a pilot.^[20]
• The International Social Affiliation of Women Airline Pilots (later named the International Society of Women Airline Pilots or ISA) was formed as a social and professional organization.^[142]
• The Professional Women Controllers, Inc, is founded by Sue Townsend and Jacque Smith in Delaware. The organization advocates for diversity in air traffic control.^[143]
• Chinyere Kalu, (née Onyenucheya) became Nigeria's first female pilot.^[144][145]
• Judy Cameron becomes the first woman pilot hired by Air Canada.^[146]
• A group of former WASPs forms the Women's Military Pilots Association (WMPA).^[147]

1979

• November: Marcella Hayes Ng becomes the first African American to become a pilot in the US military.^[31]
• Maria Ziadie-Haddad was hired as the first woman pilot of Air Jamaica^[102]
• Koh Chai Hong is the first woman pilot in the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF).^[148]
• The United States Navy allows women to train as flight officers.^[132]

1980

• Lynn Rippelmeyer is the first woman to fly a Boeing 747.^[149]
• December 12: Aircraft manufacturer, Olive Ann Beech, is awarded the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy from the U.S. National Aeronautic Association.^[150]

1981

• June: Mary Crawford becomes the first women's flight officer in the United States Navy.^[37]
• Chinyere Kalu, (née Onyenucheya) became Nigeria's first female commercial pilot.^[145]
• Yichida Ndlovu became the first civilian female pilot in Zambia.^[151]

1982

• April: Bahamian Patrice Washington graduated as the first black woman commercial pilot of the Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University.^[152]

1983

• April: Elizabeth Jennings Clark of St. Lucia was hired as the first female pilot for Leeward Islands Air Transport.^[153]
• November 16: American, Brooke Knapp, is the first person to land at McMurdo Station for a round the world flight and the first person to pilot a business jet over both the North and South Poles.^[154]
• Charlotte Larson becomes the first woman smoke jumper aircraft captain.^[155]
• Deanne Schulman becomes the first woman to be qualified as a smoke jumper.^[155]

1984

• Beverly Burns becomes the first woman to be the captain on a 747 cross-country trip.^[155]
• Lynn Ripplemeyer is the first captain of a 747 on a transatlantic flight.^[155]
• Khatool Mohammadzai is the first Afghan woman to become a paratrooper.^[156]
• Patrice Washington became the first woman pilot hired by Bahamasair.^[157]

1986

• June 11: The Women Soaring Pilots Association (WSPA) is founded in Tucson, Arizona to support women in gliding.^[158]
• Jenny Brearley of Australia is the first woman "elected to the committee of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association."^[159]
• Rebecca Mpagi joined Uganda's National Resistance Army as a pilot.^[160]

1987

• British Airways hires its first woman pilot, Lynne Barton.^[78]
• Erma Johnson became the first black and first woman chair of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport's Board of Directors.^[152]

1988

• Michele Yap of Jamaica, became the first female airline captain in the Caribbean flying for Leeward Islands Air Transport^[102]
• Sakhile Nyoni a Zimbabwean woman became the first woman pilot in Botswana.^[161]
• The Women's Military Pilots Association changes its name to the Women Military Aviators (WMA).^[147]

1989

• Latifa Nabizada and her sister, Laliuma, become the first Afghan women admitted to military flight school.^[162]
• Deanne Brasseur and Jane Foster are the first women to fly military aircraft in Canada.^[112]

1990

• Women in Aviation International (WAI) was first organized to help women advance their careers in aviation.^[163]
• Sally Cox and Julie Ann Gibson are the first pilots to fly solo in the Royal Air Force after the ban on women flying is lifted.^[78]
• January 1: Nivedita Bhasin of Indian Airlines became the youngest woman pilot in world civil aviation history to command a commercial jet aircraft at the age of 26. Capt Nivedita Bhasin piloted IC-492 on the Bombay-Aurangabad-Udaipur sector.^[164]
• Bahamian Patrice Washington became the first black woman pilot to fly for United Parcel Service.^[152]

1991

• Patty Wagstaff is the first woman to earn the title of U.S. National Aerobatic Champion.^[165]
• Latifa Nabizada and her sister Lailuma graduate from helicopter flight school and become Afghanistan's first women pilots.^[166]
• Beverley Drake of Guyana was the first female accident investigator of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.^[140]
• The first Canadian Women in Aviation Conference is held. The conferences are held every two years by volunteers.^[167]
• July 31: The United States Senate voted "overwhelmingly" to allow American military women to fly aircraft in combat situations.^[168]

1992

• Judy Chesser Coffman, of the U.S. Navy, was the first female helicopter pilot to fly in Antarctica, in support of the National Science Foundation (NSF).^[169]
• Barbara Harmer completes her training and joins the Concorde fleet as the first woman to fly the supersonic airliner as a line pilot.^[78]
• Mette Grøtteland is the first woman fighter pilot in the Royal Norwegian Air Force after qualifying to fly the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.^[170]

• Veronica Foy becomes the first woman pilot of Malawi.^[171]

1993

• Jeannie Flynn becomes the first fighter pilot in the United States Air Forces.^[172]
• Barbara Harmer of England becomes the first woman to fly a supersonic airline jet.^[1]
• Nina Tapula became the first woman military pilot of Zambia.^[151][173]
• Aurora Carandang became the first woman captain for Philippine Airlines.^[174]
• Matice Wright becomes the first African American female flight officer in the United States Navy.^[175]

1994

• September 2: Harita Kaur Deol is the first woman pilot to fly solo in the Indian Air Force. She flew in an Avro HS-748, when she was 22 years old.^[176][177]
• Jo Salter was declared combat ready by the Royal Air Force flying a Panavia Tornado in 617 Squadron becoming Britain's first female fighter pilot.^[178]
• December: Bahamian Patrice Washington became the first black woman captain of a major US air service.^[179][180]

1995

• Felistas Matengo-Mkandawire becomes the first black woman pilot in Malawi, flying as first officer for Air Malawi.^[181]
• The Federation of European Women Pilots (FEWP) is founded in Rome.^[182]

1996

• Maria Ziadie-Haddad becomes the first woman airline pilot in Jamaica.^[183]
• Chipo Matimba becomes the first woman to complete the Air Force of Zimbabwe's pilot training course.^[184]
• Hildegarde Ferrea, at age 99, becomes the oldest person to perform a skydive jump.^[185]

1997

• March: The Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance (AWAM) is formed.^[186]
• Jennifer Murray is the first woman to go around the world in a helicopter.^[78]
• Anne-Marie "Mie" Jansen becomes the first Belgian female fighter pilot, flying the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.^[187]

1998

• Women fighter pilots in the United States military fly the first combat missions off aircraft carriers.^[188]
• Asnath Mahapa is the first African woman to become a pilot in South Africa.^[189]
• Nicole Chang Leng became the first woman pilot of the Seychelles.^[190]
• November: M'Lis Ward became the first African American woman to captain for a major U.S. commercial airline, United Airlines.^[191][192]
• December 17: Kendra Williams is credited as the first woman pilot to launch missiles in combat during Operation Desert Fox.^[169]

1999

• Caroline Aigle became the first woman to receive the French Air Force's fighter pilot wings. She was assigned to fly the Mirage 2000-5.^[193]
• Veronica Foy became the first woman captain of Malawi.^[171]

Twenty-first century

2000

• Catherine Labuschagne is the first woman in South Africa qualified as a fighter pilot.^[194]
• Betty Mullis becomes the first woman and pilot in the United States Air Force to become a Brigadier General.^[195]

2001

• Susan Mashibe of Tanzania becomes the first FAA-certified pilot and mechanic of her country.^[196]
• Selase Yayra Agbenyefia of Ghana became the first female military helicopter pilot.^{[197][198][199]}
• Anastasia Gan becomes the first woman commercial airline pilot in Singapore when she joins SilkAir.^[200]
• Teresa Carvalho is the first Portuguese woman to pilot a commercial airliner.^[201]
• Roni Zuckerman became the first Israeli woman to qualify as a fighter pilot.^[202]

2002

• Christine Njeuma becomes the first woman pilot of Cameroon.^[203]
• Maria Eugenia Etcheverry becomes the first woman combat pilot in Uruguay, flying an A-37 Dragonfly.^[204][205]
• Inka Niskanen became Finland's first female fighter pilot, flying F/A-18 Hornets.^[206]
• The Air Force of the Dominican Republic allowed women to enter the military academy.^[207]

2003

• US Coast Guard pilot Sidonie Bosin is the first female aviation officer in charge of air crews in the Antarctic.^[208]
• Ayesha Farooq becomes Pakistan's first "war-ready female fighter pilot."^[209]
• Vernice Armour becomes the first African American combat pilot to fly during the Iraq War.^[31]
• Susan Mashibe of Tanzania founds Via Aviation as a fixed-base operator to support business jets and assist African clients with flight options, which don't require commercial air services and routing through Europe.^[210][211]
• Khoo Teh Lynn becomes Singapore's first fighter pilot.^[212]
• Ramona Palabrica-Go, the first female pilot in the Philippine Army, becomes the commanding officer of the Army Aviation Battalion.^[213]
• Astrid Deira became the first woman pilot of Surinam.^[214]
• January 10: The Brazilian Air Force opens up positions to women. There were 20 aviation slots and 150 women applied.^[215]
• August: Cheryl Stearns completes her 15,560th skydive, putting her at the "record for the most parachute jumps by a woman."

2004

• Irene Koki Mutungi of Kenya becomes Africa's first woman airline captain.^[216]
• The first all-female aviation company in Africa, SRS Aviation is started by South African woman, Sibongile Sambo.^[217]

2005

• Hanadi Zakaria Al-Hindi becomes the first woman in Saudi Arabia to earn her pilot's license.^[218]
• Jeanine Menze became the first African American woman to earn the Aviation Badge in the United States Coast Guard.^[219]

2006

• July: Line Bond becomes the first woman fighter pilot in Denmark.^[220]

2007

• Phetogo Molawa became the first black woman helicopter pilot in the South African Air Force and the South African National Defence Force.^[221][222]
• Nicole Chang Leng of the Seychelles became the first woman captain and the first woman to command an all-woman crew.^[223]
• Ulrike Flender graduated from Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program to become Germany's first female fighter pilot.^[224]

2008

• Michelle Goodman is the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.^[78]
• Ha Jeong-mi became the first South Korean female fighter pilot, flying the KF-16 fighter.^[225]
• Heather Bartlett, the only woman working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as both a pilot and law enforcement officer earns her commercial pilot's license.^[226]

2009

• February 12: The first all-African American, female flight crew flies from Nashville to Atlanta round-trip.^[227]
• Virginie Guyot of France is the first woman to lead a national aerobatic team.^[1]
• Kimberly Anyadike, aged 15, becomes the youngest African-American woman to pilot a plane solo across the United States.^[228]
• Angela Swann-Cronin, the first Māori pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force retires after 13 years of service. She is of Ngati Porou/Rongowhakaata tribal affiliation.^[229]
• Patricia Mawuli Nyekodzi became the first woman in Ghana to earn a civilian pilot's license and the first certified Rotax engine mechanic in West Africa.^[230]
• Ângela Pedro Francisco became the first woman pilot of Mozambique.^[231]

2010

• July: Ari Fuji, is the first woman captain in Japan, flying as captain for JAL Express.^[232]
• The women who worked as WASP pilots were given the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress and more than 250 women attended the ceremony.^[83]
• Karina Miranda is the first female pilot from Chile to break the sound barrier.^[233]
• Catherine Labuschagne is the first woman to pilot a Gripen Jas 39C.^[234]
• Giselah Ebanks became the first Caymanian woman pilot for Cayman Airways Express.^[235]
• L'Association Suisse des Femmes Pilotes is formed in Switzerland to support women in aviation and encourage networking.^[236]

2011

• Aluel James Bol became the first woman pilot in the newly created country of South Sudan.^[237]
• February: Johana Belén Santacruz became the first woman combat pilot in the Ecuadorean Air Force.^[238]
• March: The first Women of Aviation Worldwide Week is held.^[239]

2012

• February Maria Tejada-Quintana becomes the first woman of the Dominican Republic certified as a combat pilot.^[240]
• April: Astrid Deira becomes the first woman in Suriname to be the captain of a Boeing 737.^[241]
• Esther Mbabazi becomes the first woman pilot in Rwanda.^{[242][243][244]}
• Chinese pilot, Yu Xu, becomes the first woman to fly the J-10 fighter jet.^[245]
• Frances Smith, Gwendolyn Ritchie and Gayle Saunders all become the first women promoted to captain in Bahamasair.^[246]
• The Afghan Air Force starts training women pilots again. Sourya Saleh and Masooma Hussaini were trained as helicopter pilots.^[247] Niloofar Rahmani is trained as a fixed-wing military pilot, the first Afghan woman in the military to fly planes.^[248]
• Sakhile Nyoni-Reiling became the first woman General Manager of government-owned Air Botswana.^[161]
• Czarena Hashim becomes the first woman airline captain in the Royal Brunei airlines.^[249]
• Katarzyna Tomiak becomes a Mig-29 fighter pilot in the Polish Air Force.^[250]
• Andrea Deyling is the first licensed Zeppelin pilot in the United States.^[251]

2013

• Flora Ngwilinji became the first woman pilot of the Malawi Defence Force.^[252][253]
• May: Kavistha Maharaj became the first black, and first Indian South African woman to captain for South African Airways.^[254][255]
• July: The first women paratroopers in Pakistan complete their training with Captain Kiran Ashraf the best of the 24 graduates.^[256]
• The largest head-down freefly formation with only women was accomplished in Arizona with 63 women from the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, France and Russia.^[185]

2014

• Saudi Arabia allows their first woman pilot, Hanadi Al-Hindi, to fly in Saudi airspace.^[257]
• Mariam al-Mansuri is the United Arab Emirate's first female fighter pilot, flying General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons in combat missions against ISIS in Syria.^[258]
• Nicola Scaife of Australia is the winner of the first Women's Hot Air Balloon Championship.^[259]
• Astrid Deira became the first female captain in Suriname, flying her inaugural flight on a Boeing 737.^[260]

2015

• Myriam Adnani becomes the first Muslim woman pilot in Europe.^[101]
• Ethiopian Airlines has its first flight "operated by an all-female crew."^[261]
• Siza Mzimela, a South African entrepreneur, founded the first airline, Fly Blue Crane, created by a black woman.^[262]
• Ouma Laouali of Niger becomes the first female pilot to serve in the Niger Armed Forces.^[263]
• Selai Saumi becomes the first woman from Fiji to be a captain for a commercial airline.^[264]

2016

• January: Ellen Chiweshe was appointed as the first woman air commodore in the Air Force of Zimbabwe.^[265]
• February 23: The first all woman flight team in Brunei flies from Brunei International to Jeddah. The group included Captain Czarena Hashim, first officers Dk Nadiah Pg Khashiem and Sariana Nordin.^[249]
• June 18: The first female Indian fighter pilots graduate. These include Bhawana Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh.^[266]
• September: Wang Zheng (pilot) (Julie Wang, Ch. 王争) is the first Chinese person to fly a single-engine airplane solo around the world.^[267]
• December: EasyJet announces that they have doubled the number of new entrant woman pilots to their company via the Amy Johnson flying initiative.^[268]
• Singapore Airlines hires woman pilots for the first time.^[269]
• Penny Khull, becomes the first woman to qualify as a NH90 helicopter pilot in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.^[270]
• Yolanda Kaunda becomes the first black woman captain from Malawi.^[271][272]

See also

• List of firsts in aviation
• Women in aviation

References