History of Women in Aviation: From Earhart to Today

Who were the first women to fly?

The first licensed woman pilot was Raymonde de Laroche of France, who earned license No. 36 from the Aéro-Club de France on March 8, 1910. Harriet Quimby followed in the United States in 1911, becoming the first American woman to hold a pilot's license, and in April 1912 she crossed the English Channel solo — a flight overshadowed by the sinking of the Titanic the same week.

The pre-WWI era produced a small but visible group of aviatrixes who flew exhibition and demonstration circuits. Most were independently wealthy or self-promoting performers, because the aircraft of the period were unreliable and instruction was expensive. By 1914 fewer than a dozen women held pilot certificates worldwide.

How did Bessie Coleman break into aviation?

Bessie Coleman earned her international pilot license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921, after training in France because no American flight school would accept a Black woman. She was the first African American — male or female — to hold an international aviation license, predating any U.S.-issued credential for a Black aviator.

Coleman returned to the United States and built a career as a barnstormer, refusing to perform at segregated shows. She died in a 1926 crash at age 34 during a rehearsal in Jacksonville, Florida, when a wrench jammed her aircraft's controls. Her legacy directly seeds the modern organization Sisters of the Skies, which today supports Black women pursuing professional pilot careers.

What did Amelia Earhart actually accomplish?

Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic on May 20-21, 1932, completing Newfoundland to Northern Ireland in roughly 15 hours. She held multiple altitude and speed records, was the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California in 1935, and served as a founding member and first president of The Ninety-Nines, the international organization of women pilots established in 1929 with 99 charter members.

Her disappearance over the Pacific in July 1937 during a circumnavigation attempt with navigator Fred Noonan turned her into the dominant icon of women's aviation history, sometimes at the expense of more technically accomplished contemporaries like Jacqueline Cochran, who held more speed records than any pilot of her generation.

What was the role of the WASPs in World War II?

The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) were 1,102 women who flew military aircraft on non-combat missions inside the United States between 1942 and 1944. They ferried bombers and fighters from factories to airbases, towed gunnery targets, tested repaired aircraft, and trained male pilots. Thirty-eight WASPs died in service.

The program was directed by Jacqueline Cochran and built on the earlier WAFS group led by Nancy Harkness Love. WASPs flew every aircraft type in the U.S. Army Air Forces inventory, including the B-29. The program was disbanded in December 1944, and the women were classified as civilians — denied veteran status until 1977 and a Congressional Gold Medal until 2010. The denial of military benefits set the postwar trajectory: women who had logged thousands of hours in P-51s and B-17s could not get hired as airline pilots.

When did women break into commercial airline flying?

Emily Howell Warner became the first woman hired as a pilot by a scheduled U.S. airline in January 1973, joining Frontier Airlines, and was promoted to captain in 1976. Bonnie Tiburzi joined American Airlines later in 1973 as its first female pilot. Beverley Bass became American's first female captain in 1986 and later commanded the Boeing 777 that was diverted to Gander, Newfoundland on September 11, 2001 — the storyline dramatized in the musical Come From Away.

The gap between WASP demobilization in 1944 and the first airline hires in 1973 is the central data point of the postwar era: nearly three decades during which qualified women were effectively locked out of Part 121 flying. Helen Richey had briefly flown for Central Airlines in 1934-1935, but pilot union pressure forced her out within ten months.

What about women in military combat aviation?

The U.S. Navy and Air Force opened combat aviation roles to women in 1993, following Defense Secretary Les Aspin's directive. Jeannie Leavitt became the Air Force's first female fighter pilot in 1993 and later commanded an F-15E fighter wing. Tammie Jo Shults, who flew F/A-18s as one of the Navy's first female combat-capable pilots, later became the Southwest Airlines captain who landed Flight 1380 in 2018 after an uncontained engine failure.

The military pipeline matters for civilian private aviation because corporate flight departments historically pulled heavily from military rotorcraft and fighter communities, and the 1993 policy change is the reason that pipeline began producing female candidates for corporate chief pilot roles in the 2000s and 2010s.

Where do women stand in aviation today?

Women hold roughly 9.9% of all FAA pilot certificates as of recent data, but only about 4-5% of Airline Transport Pilot certificates — the credential required to captain a Part 121 airliner or fly most corporate jets. In business aviation specifically, NBAA surveys have placed female representation among professional pilots at under 6%, with chief pilot and director of aviation roles in the low single digits.

The scholarship and pipeline infrastructure is now substantial. Women in Aviation International awards more than $750,000 in scholarships annually at its conference, including type ratings from NetJets, Flexjet, and other operators. The Ninety-Nines Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship funds advanced ratings. Whirly-Girls International funds helicopter ratings, and ISA+21 supports women pursuing airline captaincies. Sisters of the Skies focuses specifically on Black women, who remain under 1% of U.S. professional pilots.

What is the trajectory from here?

The pipeline is widening but slowly. Embry-Riddle, Purdue, and UND now report female enrollment in professional flight programs in the 15-22% range, roughly triple the working pilot population. Major operators have set public targets: United's Aviate academy committed to 50% female and minority enrollment by 2030, and corporate flight departments at Berkshire Hathaway-owned NetJets and Directional Aviation's Flexjet have funded dedicated type-rating scholarships.

The arc from de Laroche in 1910 to a working female G650 captain in 2024 spans 114 years. The next decade will determine whether the pipeline investments translate into the captain's seat or stall at the first officer level — a question the historical record suggests is settled by hiring practices, not certification numbers.