Women Rule the Skies
Airline Cockpits Remain Male Preserves, But Aviation’s Top Bosses Are Often Female
History is full of bold and charismatic aviatrixes: Amelia Earhart, the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic; Bessie Coleman, the first African-American to earn a pilot’s license; Beryl Markham, the British-born Kenyan adventurer; and (to name just one more in a long and lively list) Elinor Smith, the “Flying Flapper of Freeport,” who in 1928, at the age of 17, became the first and only pilot to fly under New York City’s four East River bridges, a stunt she did on a dare.
Commercial airlines, however, are not …
