First Female Commercial Pilot in North America honoured

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

Rosella Bjornson honoured with Alberta Order of Excellence

Once, while landing a plane in Calgary, Rosella Bjornson radioed the tower and was mistaken for a misbehaving stewardess.

The year was 1974 and Bjornson was the only woman in North America working as a commercial pilot.

"We were landing at the Calgary Airport, and of course I was using the radio. And the ground controller said, 'When did Transair start allowing flight attendants to use the radio?'
"I laughed and I said, 'I'm not a flight attendant. I'm a pilot.'"

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/rosella-bjornson-pilot-alberta-order-of-excellence-1.4868503?cmp=FB_Post_News&fbclid=IwAR3-Y8_XGsoSO8VtRM6S8Rn49-ucCJIniTrhKjVz9su0fEsoDYG5yAXQ8hA

Edited October 19, 2018 by Matthew Kane

[Jessica Bannister-Pearce 120]

That’s so cool, but word not allowed, 1974. That feels awful close to recent history. 

[Matthew Kane 1,343]

1 minute ago, Jessica Bannister-Pearce said:

That’s so cool, but word not allowed, 1974. That feels awful close to recent history. 

What is a real shame was all those women flying ferry flights during WW2 from the factories to the airfields and were exceptional pilots with years of experience, but were not allowed into the airline jobs after the war. It took until 1974 to begin to break down that barrier. That is a very long time.