Women Aviators

by Karen Bush Gibson

  On June 30, 1956, a tragic accident between two passenger aircrafts occurred over the Grand Canyon, killing all 128 passengers on both planes. Within two years, Mike Monroney, Democratic senator from Oklahoma, introduced a bill to establish an independent agency to oversee civil aviation safety. The bill, after it was passed and signed into law, created the Federal Aviation Agency—later known as the Federal Aviation Administration and now better known as the FAA.

  In 1966, president Lyndon Johnson introduced the Department of Transportation (DOT) to oversee all transportation policies, and the FAA became part of the Department of Transportation. Safety inspectors, air-traffic controllers, and safety marshals became important roles within the FAA. The FAA also ushered in modern technology to improve safety, including global positioning systems and other automated systems.

  With the primary mission of advancing aviation safety, the FAA continues to perform research that leads to improvements in aviation. Excluding the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, there have been only 0.018 fatal accidents for every 100,000 planes that take off. (FAA duties changed soon after the 9/11 attacks. It continues to monitor safety and investigate accidents, but aviation security was taken over by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a department of Homeland Security.)

  Wally returned to school, earning a bachelor of science degree in secondary education at Oklahoma State University with a minor in aviation. OSU’s aviation program was popular, with up to 200 students per year, but Wally stuck out—not just because she was the only female but also because she had superior flying skills and a positive attitude. She loved competing against the boys. She was a member of the school’s Flying Aggies, winning trophies at collegiate air meets. The team uniform was white coveralls, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. Wally earned even more pilot certifications while at college.

  After graduating at age 20, she was refused employment at Continental and United Airlines. She said they told her they had no women’s bathrooms in their training facilities. Instead, she became the chief flight instructor—and the first female flight instructor—at Fort Sill, an army base in southwest Oklahoma. In more than 50 years of flight instruction, Wally has soloed more than a thousand students, putting them through various pilot certifications. She has also been honored with the FAA Gold Seal, an award given to flight instructors.

  Wally’s job as a flight instructor was just one of many firsts. As the first woman to complete the FAA General Aviation Operations Inspector Academy course in 1971, she learned about procedures for performing flight testing, certifying pilots, and handling accidents. This information became useful when she became the first woman investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. Wally toured the world to lecture on safety training. She was the first woman to hold many positions within the FAA, including air safety investigator.

  Mercury 13 Astronaut

  One day in 1960, Wally picked up the October issue of Life magazine. In it was a photo of a honey-blond pilot named Jerrie Cobb, who, according to the magazine, was proof that women should go into space. Wally decided she was going along with Jerrie Cobb. By the time she was 21, Wally had started the first phase of women’s astronaut training. Although the women of the Mercury 13 scored well in all their testing—a few even did better than their male counterparts—Congress ruled that women didn’t have the experience and abilities needed to be astronauts. This was 1963. A year later, the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union, went into space. Wally kept sending in her application to NASA. Twenty years later, American Sally Ride became the first American woman in space.

  Wally is still waiting for her opportunity. She hoped it would be in 2013 on a private space flight, the Solaris X.

  Wally retired from the National Transportation Safety Board in 1985 to devote her time to safety education. Today, she travels and makes presentations, including one she calls “How to Fly and Stay Alive.” With all her work and training in safety investigations, Wally hopes that the more people know about air safety, the smaller the chances are that an accident will happen. Her goal is to make the already safe skies even safer.

  In the late 1960s, Wally spent three years as a goodwill flying ambassador, traveling more than 80,000 miles as she visited 50 countries in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.

  When not working, Wally enters air races, including the Air Race Classic, Palms to Pines Race, and the Pacific Air Race. She flew into a first-place finish from San Diego to Santa Rosa, California, against 80 competitors. She also enjoys ballooning, hang gliding, and skydiving.

  In 1985, Wally was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame. Despite earning this great achievement, Wally hasn’t stopped pushing herself. Today she looks forward to the day when she can have the ultimate experience: going to space. In the meantime, she remains as busy as ever. Living in Fort Worth, Texas, she flies almost every day. She has served as chief pilot at North Texas Aero airport. In 2010, she learned how to fly a Black Hawk helicopter. With 15 ratings and licenses and experience with more than 30 types of planes, she continues to lecture, teach flight training, and consult for aerospace companies. She has also remained active with the Ninety-Nines.

  Wally is much in demand as a speaker. Her exuberant personality and quick laugh make her popular with audiences. Ask her to inspect a plane, and she’ll whip out her “Wally stick” and check the prop for cracks. People remember what Wally Funk tells them.

  LEARN MORE

  Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone and Margaret A. Weitekamp (Candlewick, 2009)

  The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight by Martha Ackmann and Lynn Sherr (Random House, 2004)

  “Wally Funk” on Ninety-Nines, Inc. International Organization of Women Pilots website, www.ninety-nines.org/index.cfm/wally_funk.htm

  “Wally Funk” on Women Fly Resource Center website, http://womenaviators.org/WallyFunk.html

  Wally Funk website, http://wallyfly.com

  PATTY WAGSTAFF

  Aerobatic Firefighter

  THE AIRPLANE SOARS STRAIGHT up. It seems to freeze in the sky before it goes into a series of loops and barrel rolls, like the wildest roller coaster ever built. A white-gray jet stream shoots from the plane like a ribbon ready to be tied. Then the plane flips over, flying upside down.

  The plane drops close to the ground in a feat of low-level extreme aerobatics. With one wrong move, it would crash. Other than the plane, the only sounds are the collective oohs and ahhs from the audience.

  This scene typifies the life of Patty Wagstaff, who performs exciting aerial acrobatics for millions of people throughout the world. As a six-time member of the US Aerobatic Team, she has won gold, silver, and bronze medals in international competitions.

  Patty was born in 1951 into an air force family in the United States, and they moved to Japan when she was nine years old. Her father was a 747 captain for Japan Air Lines, so she grew up around airplanes. (Her sister, Toni, would later fly a 727 for Continental Airlines.) Her father used to let her sit on his lap in the cockpit of the planes. When she was 10, she had her first exciting moment with an airplane: she got to take over the controls of her father’s DC-6.

  Patty’s early life in Japan led to a love of travel as well. After traveling throughout Southeast Asia and Europe, she moved to a small boat and sailed the west coast of Australia.

  Returning to the United States in 1979, Patty made the southwest Alaska town of Dillingham her home. She took a job that required her to travel to villages that were accessible only by air. But when the chartered plane she was riding in crashed on her first trip, she decided it was time for her to learn to fly. She learned on a Cessna 185 floatplane in Alaska’s often-treacherous weather and terrain. While taking lessons, she met her future husband, Bob.

  Since learning to fly, Patty has received other certifications, including commercial, instrument, multiengine, seaplane, and commercial he
licopter ratings. She can fly anything from a World War II fighter to a jet. Patty also teaches flying and instrument rating to others.

  Attending her first air show in 1983, Patty watched the aerobatics in awe. She was determined to learn how to perform those maneuvers herself. Within two years, she had landed a spot on the US Aerobatic Team. She liked how aerobatics demanded 100 percent of her concentration; she has described it as being one with the plane.

  What Is Aerobatics?

  Aerobatics is aerial acrobatics. Pilots perform complicated maneuvers with their airplanes. It is a type of flying that requires much skill and confidence. It’s also very entertaining. One of the earliest female aerobatic performers was Betty Skelton, who began performing in 1947. She flew a hand-built plane to win the Feminine International Aerobatics Championships for three years in a row. She named her plane Little Stinker.

  An aerobatics competition takes place on a playing field, or “box.” A flyer must remain in bounds or be penalized. The judging for aerobatics is similar to that for gymnastics or figure skating. Each maneuver or figure receives a score of between 0 and 10, the best score. A k-factor rates the degree of difficulty. Each score is multiplied by the k-factor for the figure score. Then all the scores for each move are added up. The high score wins.

  Aerobatic pilots start by competing in classical categories before moving on to a qualification program, freestyle routines, and unknowns. After each section, only the best aerobatic pilots remain in the competition.

  Patty became the first female to win the National Aerobatic Championships in 1991. It was then that she realized that flying was a double-edged sword. As a woman, she was under more scrutiny. Determined to prove herself, she went on to win the competition two more times. Today, she is still the only woman to have won the National Aerobatic championships three times. For this feat, she was honored by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Her airplane, the Extra 260, is featured in the museum, right behind Amelia Earhart’s airplane.

  Patty’s aerobatic career has spanned the globe; she has traveled to places such as Iceland and Russia, where she trained with the Russian aerobatic team. Her experience includes flight testing for aircraft manufacturers and working as a stunt pilot for film and television. Currently the only female member of the Motion Picture Pilots Association, Patty doubles for male and female actors. In television, she has done work for both educational television (on the Discovery Channel and the Learning Channel) and popular television (Lois and Clark). Movie work and commercials are also part of her stunt-flying resume.

  Patty has also found a way to use her aviation skills and talent to give back. She regularly travels to East Africa to train antipoaching pilots in the Kenya Wildlife Service to help protect Kenya’s wildlife. Elephants are particularly at risk because of the demand for ivory, and the most successful method of deterring poachers is air patrol. Since she started the training program, pilot accidents have decreased by half, and the elephant population has increased. The program is supported in part by the Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation. Charles Lindbergh was a supporter of wildlife and enjoyed visiting Africa.

  After 12 years of winning practically every award for aerobatics, Patty retired from competing. She found a new way to use her skills: Patty joined Cal Fire as an aerial firefighter. The US Forest Service requires firefighting pilots to have 800 pilot-in-command flight hours, with 100 of those hours completed during the past year. Fire pilots must have ratings in multien-gine flying, instrument rating, and commercial flying.

  Aerial firefighting is a demanding profession. During the season, a pilot works six days on, one day off. You can be called out at any point and must be ready to fly.

  As an air-attack pilot, Patty flies an OV-10 Bronco to fight fires in California. Flying through smoke and flames demands all her aerobatic skills and more. She and an air tactical group supervisor are often first on the scene, surveying the landscape and determining the best methods to attack a wildfire. They communicate their findings to ground firefighting crews and other air crews. Patty also broadcasts warnings to airports for other pilots to stay away. She hopes to one day be ready for tanker flying.

  Tankers, which fly low to the ground, were first used to put out fires with water or chemical retardants in the 1950s. Old military planes were modified for this purpose. Tanker planes that were specifically developed to fight fires, like the Canadair CL-215, have features such as doors in the belly of the plane that drop water on fires. Some can even scoop up to 1,400 gallons (5,300 liters) of water from nearby lakes in seconds.

  “Tanker flying is edgy,” Patty explained in an interview, “because you are low and in the smoke in places you’ve never been before. Everything is totally different down there: trees sticking up everywhere, small flames, and no perspective. When there is a lot of wind, it can be really ugly too, but it’s cool, totally cool! I love it.”

  At the peak of wildfire season, Patty may fly up to seven hours per day. The people of California depend on the shiny red-and-white airplanes that come to their rescue when wildfires strike. Patty’s airplane and the tankers are kept ready to go. When the buzzers sound at the bases, the crews must quickly slide into their flight suits and be up in the sky in minutes.

  Firefighting keeps her busy and on call for four to five months per year. Patty saves aerobatic air shows for after fire season. But whether performing for audiences or fighting fires, she gives flying everything she’s got.

  LEARN MORE

  Aerial Firefighting by Wolfgang Jendsch (Schiffer Publishing, 2008)

  Basic Aerobatics by Geza Szurovy and Mike Goulian (McGraw-Hill Professional, 1994)

  Fire and Air: A Life on the Edge by Patty Wagstaff and Ann L. Cooper (Chicago Review Press, 1997)

  “Patricia ‘Patty’ Wagstaff” on National Aviation Hall of Fame website, www.nationalaviation.org/wagstaff-patty

  “Patty Wagstaff: Fire and Air” on Ninety-Nines, Inc. International Organization of Women Pilots website, www.ninety-nines.org/index.cfm/patty_wagstaff.htm

  “Patty Wagstaff Interview and Flight” on YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4NJnyx4zAI

  INGRID PEDERSEN

  Polar Bush Pilot

  ON JULY 29, 1963, Ingrid Pedersen took off from Fairbanks, Alaska, in a red-and-white Cessna 205, nicknamed the Snow Goose. Originally, she and her husband, Einar, were to leave in spring, but they had been delayed. She had her hands full trying to pilot the small plane over the North Pole. They had replaced four of the seats with extra fuel tanks for the 2,400-mile trip (3,900 kilometers) across the Arctic.

  The fuel tanks, fuel, and emergency equipment added more than 700 pounds (320 kilograms) to the airplane. This weight made the back of the plane heavy, affecting the balance. Ingrid thought her Snow Goose was more like an overfilled goose. She compensated for the weight and balance by flying with the nose down for the first few hours.

  But the extra weight also made the plane’s high-pitched stall warning go off for almost an hour. Ingrid did her best to ignore it and focus on flying. When the landscape is all white as it is in the polar regions, pilots can become disoriented. Ellen Paneok, an Anchorage bush pilot, compared it to flying inside a milk bottle.

  Einar stayed busy with navigating and taking pictures of the ice for his research. He had brought five cameras in addition to navigational equipment. Magnetic compasses are useless when flying over the North Pole, so Einar had to use other tools, including the sun. When he worked for Scandinavian Airlines, he had developed a system for polar navigation using grids, charts, and a sextant. One of his tools was a telescope-like gadget called a drift sight. When he placed it against the window of the plane, he could calculate the wind speed, which allowed him to evaluate how the wind affected the plane’s speed.

  The North Pole

  The Arctic area, including the North Pole, was covered with ice year round when Ingrid Pedersen made her historic journey. Today, the area has adopted seasonal fluctuations due to
climate change. In winter, the average temperature is −29° F (−34° C). But the summer averages 32° F (0° C). Since the 1970s, the arctic sea ice has been decreasing approximately 12 percent each year. As a result of climate change, the Arctic is warming almost twice as fast as the rest of the planet.

  When enough fuel had burned off, the Snow Goose became easier to handle. Ingrid noticed a blue ice island known as T-3. Ice islands or icebergs are classified according to shape or size. T-3 has a tabular shape, with steep sides and a flat top like a plateau. Ingrid thought the island, though beautiful, looked lonely in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, covered with a layer of shifting ice.

  When Ingrid got close to Spitsbergen, the largest of the populated Norwegian islands that border the Arctic Ocean, it became obvious that the Snow Goose was collecting too much ice. She dropped the plane to about 500 feet (150 meters) to melt the ice, watching as chunks of it fell off.

  After 21 hours of flying, the Pedersens landed on Station Nord in Greenland. After a rest, they flew on to Bodo, Norway, another 11 hours away, making Ingrid the first woman to fly successfully over the North Pole.

  For her achievement, Ingrid received the Amelia Earhart Medal from the Alaska Ninety-Nines and a Gold Plaque from the Royal Swedish Aero Club. Although her record flight was big news in Alaska and the countries of Scandinavia, where she was from, it didn’t get a lot of attention in other locations. Since the dawn of aviation, there had been many first flights.