Donovan Boone
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Donovan Boone

As a youngster, Donovan Boone eagerly anticipated visits to his grandmother’s apartment building in Brooklyn. From her balcony in the structure that towered more than 15 stories, Boone had the perfect vantage point to watch aircraft arrive and depart John F. Kennedy Airport just one borough over in Queens. “I lived in Brownsville, Brooklyn, but I had a grandmother who…

Sheraaz Rasool
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Sheraaz Rasool

Sheraaz Rasool is a London-based First Officer on the Boeing 787. As a long-haul pilot, he spends his days and nights crisscrossing continents, moving passengers from cities around the world to and from London Heathrow. He’s the son of a working-class Asian Muslim family from Birmingham. Like many pilots, Rasool was captivated by flight from…

Freddie Green
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Freddie Green

Freddie Green is an Air Traffic Manager in Miami, Florida. As an Air Traffic Manager, he leads a team that serves many Air Traffic Control (ATC) operations in and out of Miami, including Center, Approach/Departure TRACON, and Tower. He’s also the National President of the National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees (NBCFAE), where he…

Patty Wagstaff
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Patty Wagstaff

Patty Wagstaff is a competition aerobatic pilot, U.S. National Aerobatic Champion, and 6-time consecutive “First Lady of Aerobatics”. Today, she owns and operates an aerobatic and upset recovery training (UPRT) flight school in St. Augustine, Florida. Wagstaff grew up in Japan, the daughter of a Japan Air Lines pilot, and didn’t consider a flying career…

Claudia Zapata-Cardone
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Claudia Zapata-Cardone

As a child of immigrants, Claudia Zapata-Cardone’s journey to becoming an Airbus 319/320 Captain is a remarkable story of grit, passion, and her parents’ steadfast belief in the American Dream. She is living proof that becoming a commercial pilot can be achieved, regardless of one’s socio-economic background, race, and gender.  Captain Zapata-Cardone credits her father,…

Bessie Coleman
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Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman (January 26, 1892 – April 30, 1926) was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native-American to hold a pilot license. She earned her pilot license from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale on June 15, 1921, and was the first black person to earn an international pilot’s license….