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 (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….
In 1957, former Air Force B-26 pilot Marlon Green applied to multiple airlines without a response. Rather than accept his fate, he took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, and won. Article By Lisa Tyler, FAA Aviation Safety Office During the golden age of air travel in the 1950s and 1960s, there appeared to…
Jonathan Strickland may as well have wings attached to his back as the young pilot already owns several world records in aviation. The Los Angeles native recently achieved another mark by becoming the youngest pilot hired by UPS at just 25 years old. At a very young age, Strickland developed a love of flying via…
Black women are continuing to break down barriers one first at a time. The latest woman representing #BlackGirlMagic is Andrea Lewis, a Delta Airlines flight attendant, who has just been named by the Georgia National Guard as its first Black female pilot. Andrea Lewis is the daughter of a military pilot and a commercial flight…
Twenty-one year old Xylene DeCoteau is a Certified Flight Instructor who aspires to be a commercial airline pilot. DeCoteau’s mother, who was a flight attendant, sparked her interest in pursuing a career in the aviation industry. Originally, DeCoteau wanted to be a flight attendant like her mother. However, after doing more research and participating in…
Christian Cunningham, a senior aeronautical studies major at Kent State University, has been doubted. Some said he would never become a pilot. But Cunningham is already proving them wrong. Graduation is on the horizon, and he and his internship were recently featured on CNN. “People would always say I couldn’t do it because I had…
Alexis Thind is a private pilot, currently completing her commercial pilot certificate in Squamish, a municipality north of Vancouver, Canada. After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a major in Political Science, Thind discovered her love for flying. She follows in the footsteps of her late father, a retired F-5 fighter pilot and…
Merryl Tengesdal is the first and only African American female U-2 pilot. Her military career included flying The SH-60B Seahawk in the Navy and instructing in the U.S. Air Force T-34C and T-6 Texan II, before joining the rarefied U-2 program. The U-2 is a unique platform that operates well above 60,000 feet in a…