- When American Airlines hired her in 1973, Bonnie Tiburzi was the only woman among 214 new hires.
- At the time, she was 24 years old and two years younger than most of the new hires.
- She says the hardest part of being the first was a fear of failing and harming female emancipation.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Bonnie Tiburzi, the first woman to fly with American Airlines as a pilot in 1973. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Becoming a pilot, for me, was a dream that turned into reality, rather than a conscious decision. I was proud of my dad, who was a pilot with Scandinavian Airlines — my mother was Swedish — and then with Trans World Airlines.
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