Patrice Clarke-Washington

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Born in 1961 in Nassau, The Bahamas, Patrice Clark-Washington, was the first black woman captain of a major U.S. air service. Her interest in aviation began at the young age of five when she took her first flight. She participated in career week activities in high school hoping to become a flight stewardess, but by the time she graduated she had hopes of becoming a pilot. She attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, and graduated with a commercial pilot’s certificate and B.S. in aeronautical science in 1982.

Source: National Air and Space Museum

She worked as a pilot for a charter company, Trans Island Airways, in the Bahamas between 1982 and 1984. She later flew as a first officer with Bahamasair and in 1988 she was hired as a flight engineer for United Parcel Service (UPS). She was promoted to first officer in 1990 and finally to captain in1994. She was only one of eleven female captains to command planes for a major U.S. airline.

Her husband Ray Washington flies for American Airlines. She and her husband are the only African American couple who both fly for a major commercial carrier.

Some of her major accomplishments include:

  • First black woman graduate of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida
  • First woman pilot of Bahamasair
  • First black female pilot hired by the United Parcel Service.
  • She was the first African American female pilot with a commercial airline

Patrice Clarke-Washington has retired from the public eye. In 2008, along with her husband Ray, she was recognized as an inaugural Founders and Pioneers Hall of Fame inductee by the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals. Her UPS uniform is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

March is Women History Month and Women of Aviation Month.

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Bonnie Tiburzi

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Born in August 1948 in Connecticut, Bonnie Linda Tiburzi, became the first female pilot for American Airlines at the young age of 24 years. Her father was an airline pilot who flew for the Scandinavian Airlines and later for Trans World Airlines, and owned and operated a flight school after leaving the airlines. Likely inspired by her father, her first job was as a flight instructor and charter pilot.

Source: National Air and Space Museum

At 24, she became the first female pilot for American Airlines and the first female pilot for a major American commercial airline. She started out as a Flight Engineer at American and later flew as a Captain on the Boeing 727, Boeing 757 and the Boeing 767. After 26 years in the aviation industry, she retired from aviation in 1998.

Bonni Tiburzi Caputo wrote her autobiography Takeoff: The Story of America’s First Woman Pilot for a Major Airline in 1976.  She received several awards throughout her career. Her American Airlines pilot uniform is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

March is Women History Month and Women of Aviation Month.

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