Ten years on, they're dead. (Women aviators)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

A decade ago I bought a book called Women And Flight, a book profiling 36 contemporary female pilots. I read several chapters but never got around to finishing it. You know how it is; you get involved in something else, and time passes.

I decided to pick it up again, and out of curiosity I googled the first pilot, Alaska’s first Inuit woman bush pilot Ellen Paneok. Turns out she died last year at the age of 48.

I wasn’t surprised that Fay Gillis Wells had died. She was born in 1908. It’s a pity she couldn’t have held out another five years. Had she made it to 15 October 2007 she would have been 99 years old; fitting for someone who was a charter member of the Ninety-Nines.

Then I came upon Victoria Van Meter. I wonder what she’s up to nowadays? She’d be 27 now. Last March she shot herself.

I probably should have finished the book when I got it. Ten years on, some of these people are gone.

2

I wonder, out of a random pool of a hundred people or so, how many will be dead in 10 years? How many of them will be aviators?

I know one thing for sure. The only good aviators are NOT dead aviators.

3

Even odder - none of the 3 deaths listed were aircraft-related.

4

I believe that’s the book with Gayle Ranney in it, of Cordova Fishing and Flying. She’s still alive as of November — I received a thank-you note from her, around that time. I took a flight with her in a bush plane over the Stevens Glacier. (The thank-you note was for the thank-you gift that I had sent to her.)

5

On the other hand, Evelyn “Mama Bird” Johnson, current record holder for most flight hours ever logged by a pilot, is still alive (last I heard) in Morristown, Tennessee. In November she’ll be 100 years old.

She’s still the airport manager. Wow - 99 and still working! Is she in your book?

6

No, but it sounds like she should be! Here’s a list of those included:

Ellen Paneok - Alaskan bush pilot
Linda V. Hutton - Captain, United States Navy
Fay Gillis Wills - Aviation pioneer
Marsha Ivins - astronaut
Victoria Van Meter - student pilot
Marty Goppert - Flying Circus pilot
Patrice Clarke-Washington - Captain
Krista Bonino - 1st Lt, US Army, Helicopter pilot
Linn Buell - glider pilot
Jean Ross Howard-Phelan - Aviation pioneer
Mary Edna Fraser - Aerial artist
Mayte Greco - Search and rescue pilot
Florence Partlett - Airport operator
Shannon Lucid - Astronaut
Lori Love - crop duster
Madge Rutherford Minton - WASP
Kim Darst - Heilcopter pilot
Patty Wagstaff - Aerobatic pilot
Ida Van Smith-Dunn - Pilot
Susan Pierce - Hang glider pilot
Susan Still - Lt, US Navy, combat pilot and astronaut
Mary Ellen Weber - Astronaut
Gayle Ranney - Alaskan bush pilot
Suzanne Ashbury-Oliver - Skywriter
Yvonne McDermott - Pilot
Betty Skelton-Frankman - Aerobatic pioneer
Michele Summers - First Officer
Troy Devine - Captain, USAF
Evie Washington - pilot
Bonnie Wilkens - Helicopter pilot
Dorothy Aiksnoras-Vallee - First Officer
Marilyn Bridges - Aerial photographer
Doris Lockness - Flying octogenarian
Eileen Collins - Lt Colonel, USAFand Astronaut
Patricia Jenkins - Helicopter pilot
Marsha Neal - Astronaut

7

Here’s a list of women who were profiled in the book, who have slipped the surly bonds of Earth.

Ellen Paneok, first female aboriginal Alaskan to become a licensed pilot, died in 2008 at the age of 48.

Fay Gillis Wells, aviator, journalist, and broadcaster, died in 2002 at the age of 94.

Vicki Van Meter, youngest (unrated) pilot to fly east-to-west across the United States, and youngest female pilot to cross in either direction, committed suicide in 2008 at the age of 26.

Jean Ross Howard-Phelan was a pioneering helicopter pilot. She was 87 when she died in 2004.

Florence Parlett, owner of Annapolis Flying Service, apparently died at 91 in 1997.

Lori Love was a crop duster born in 1950. She disappeared on a ferry flight from Florida to South Africa after refueling in Accra, Ghana for a leg to Namibia in 2007, aged 57.

Madge Rutherford Minton, WASP pilot, was 84 when she died in 2004.

Ida Van Smith-Dunn, African-American pilot and founder of Ida Van Smith Flight Clubs, Inc., died at the age of 86.

Betty Skelton-Frankman was a land speed record holder and aerobatic pilot. She was 85 when she died in 2011.

8

A bit rude to make such a sweeping generalization … not all have passed and you really only mentioned 3 that have passed. My aunt is Dorothy Aiksnoras-Vallee. She is alive and well running her own farm in CT.

9

What sweeping generalization ? Johnny_L.A didn’t say they’d all died (even
though that may be implied by the thread title) , just the 9 which he has
named (and the last post was 9 years ago..).
Nice to know your aunt Dorothy is still around.

10

We’ve been flying around the Puget Sound zone a couple of times over the last few years and, each time, our puddle jumper planes were piloted by women.

I know that you need to get in a certain number of hours before you can get a job in a larger craft so that seems promising.

Not on the death side, that is, the flying side looks promising for women pilots. I’m doubtful that there’s a connection with bad outcomes, just coincidental ordering of the pilots landed you in a patch of ladies that had happened to keel off.

11

Sweeping implication from title. Exactly :joy: