When I first embarked on our project to collect information about women in air traffic control in general and then about the first women air traffic controllers in the US, I did not think about a fact of life that is the other inevitable thing besides taxes… Many of those first pioneering ladies have flown… Continue reading Margaret Sanders, ATCO – An example to follow
Tag: women
Women in ATC – Echoes from the past
The subject of women in air traffic control is dear to my heart for several reasons one of which is that I did play a small role in setting the scene for girls to be eventually accepted as ATC cadets in Hungary. The real achievement belongs to the ladies themselves who completed the fight but… Continue reading Women in ATC – Echoes from the past
Obituary – Mary Elizabeth (Chance) VanScyoc
The lady recognized by most accounts as the first woman controller in the US has passed away. VanScyoc, Mary Elizabeth (Chance), 91, passed away Wednesday, February 9, 2011. Mary was born on Dec 26, 1919 to Gerald and Lois Chance in Wichita. She obtained her pilots license at age 20, graduated from Wichita University and became the first… Continue reading Obituary – Mary Elizabeth (Chance) VanScyoc
The Story of Alpha Mike (Part 2)
The Road to Becoming an En-route Air Traffic Controller To continue with my story, let me just go back to that time when, in 1981, I received an Order transferring me to the Manila Area Control Center (ACC), eight years after I graduated from an air traffic control training course. The ATC staffing crisis –… Continue reading The Story of Alpha Mike (Part 2)
Women in Air Traffic Control
My original article about the difficult road women wanting to become air traffic controllers (and commercial pilots…) faced in the early days seems to have struck a chord in several parts of the world. First there was Aminda’s lovely contribution from the Philippines then Evon Russel contacted me on Facebook with a link to an… Continue reading Women in Air Traffic Control
The story of Alpha Mike
It was in summer of 1971 when I started training for air traffic control at the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Air Academy in Manila, Philippines. Actually, it was only the fourth time since 1957 that they accepted women in ATC training classes, the last one being in 1963. All those years, only 11 women graduated… Continue reading The story of Alpha Mike
The long and winding road – women in the cockpit and the control tower
To-day, nobody bats an eye at the sight of a four-striper with long blond hair and lipstick hauling her flight case like her male colleagues do. Even an all female crew in the front office is commonplace these days. A female voice on the control frequency is also quite normal now in most of the… Continue reading The long and winding road – women in the cockpit and the control tower