1998 Pioneer Hall of Fame

Loretta Jones

Loretta Jones has been a licensed pilot since 1957. She has earned all ratings through Air Transport Pilot and is a certificated flight examiner. Loretta estimates that she has logged more than 25,000 hours of flying. Her pioneering spirit has helped pave the way for increased flying opportunities for those who were once known as "girl pilots." She has instructed nearly 1,000 student pilots during the past 40 years. She was instrumental in changing hiring policies at airlines, and even trained the first female United Airlines pilot among her countless students.

Harriet Quimby

Harriet Quimby spent her early career as a writer. She became the first licensed female pilot in the United States on August 11, 1911 (ten years prior to Amelia Earhart). In November of the same year, she was one of the first women to fly an airplane in Mexico City. In 1912, she wrote, "The airplane should open a fruitful occupation for women. I see no reason they cannot realize handsome incomes by carrying passengers between adjacent towns, from parcel delivery, taking photographs or conducting schools of flying." At the time, she was the only woman writing about and encouraging other women to enter aviation.

Jacqueline L Smith

Jacqueline L. Smith joined the Navy right after high school to become an air traffic controller. During her 30-year ATC career, she helped many other women succeed in ATC. In 1968, she and Sue Mostert (Townsend) founded Professional Women Controllers, Inc. The organization started with 70 members and has now grown to more than 800 FAA, military and international controllers. Smith continued to develop her own career and to inspire other women in the FAA. Her FAA "firsts" included several positions from the first woman manager of an Air Route Traffic Control Center to the first woman Regional Administrator in the FAA. Smith continually fostered programs and processes that considered the human side of work.

The Whirly-Girls

The Whirly-Girls, Inc. was organized in 1955 by Jean Ross Howard when there were only thirteen helicopter-rated women around the world. The nonprofit, educational and charitable organization's original goals were "to promote interest among all women in rotary wing craft, to establish scholarships to help other(s) learn to fly helicopters, and to provide a standby women's helicopter reserve for civil defense and other national emergencies." As times changed, the Whirly-Girls de-emphasized the latter in the interest of securing helicopter landing areas for hospitals and promoting heliports. Since the organization's formation, more than 1,000 individuals from 29 countries have become members.