Meryl Jan Getline (June 26, 1953 – June 19, 2019) was an American

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, author, and columnist.

Biography

Born in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

, Getline grew up in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. She first became interested in flying while in college, and persisted despite a bout of airsickness during her first flying lesson. She attempted to join the military and become a pilot there, but circumstances constrained her to work mostly in air traffic control. Her first position as an airline pilot was with a California-based commuter airline, during which time she earned a type rating on the

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...

. Getline claims that she was the first American woman to do this. She later joined regional airline

Wien Air Alaska Wien Air Alaska (IATA: WC) was a United States airline formed from Northern Consolidated Airlines (NCA) and Wien Alaska Airways. The company was famous for being the first airline in Alaska, and one of the first in the United States; it ceased ope ...

. In 1985, she was hired by

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

, during a pilot's

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Labor (economics), work. A strike usually takes place in response to grievance (labour), employee grievance ...

. In 2006, she retired eight years early from the company. Getline holds a wide variety of airman certificates, including

Airline Transport Pilot License The airline transport pilot license (ATPL), or in the United States of America, an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate is the highest level of aircraft pilot certificate. In the United States, those certified as airline transport pilots ...

(ATP), AMEL, commercial pilot, Airplane Single Engine Land (ASEL),

rotorcraft A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft with rotary wings or rotor blades, which generate lift by rotating around a vertical mast. Several rotor blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The Internati ...

, control tower operator,

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is the member of an aircraft's flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air me ...

, and

ground instructor Ground Instructor is a certificate issued in the United States by the Federal Aviation Administration. There are three classes of holder, licensed to provide the ground instruction element in the training of three groups: *Basic Ground Instructor ( ...

, as well as type ratings for the

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap bet ...

Cessna Citation The Cessna Citation is a family of business jets by Cessna that started in 1972 with the entry into service of the first model. In the fifty years following the 1969 first flight, more than 7,500 Citations were delivered, forming the largest b ...

, and

. Meryl Getline died on Wednesday, June 19, 2019, from the cancer that finally reached her brain. She was a resident of Elizabeth Colorado, at the time of her passing.

Work

Getline has written a number of books based on her experiences as a pilot, and wrote a regular column for

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

from 2004 to 2006 entitled “Ask the Captain,” in which she answered questions about air travel. She has also written for other publications, including the ''

Christian Science Monitor Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

'' and '' Road & Travel Magazine;'' and as of 2006, she was a regular contributor to ''Executive Travel'' magazine. She has made guest appearances on television news programs, such as

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''News Now,'' to discuss her career and the issues facing women in aviation, and also speaks before groups on similar aviation-related subjects.

Books

* ''The World at My Feet: The True and Sometimes Hilarious Adventures of a Lady Airline Captain'' (2004) * ''Flights of Whimsy: Quips and Quotes'' (2005) * Cancer, We Are Not Amused (2019)

References

External links

Getline's bio at the Speakermatch speakers' bureau

Getline's web site

a site promoting Getline's program on mastering your fear of flying
{{DEFAULTSORT:Getline, Meryl 1953 births 2019 deaths Writers from Dayton, Ohio Writers from San Diego People from Elbert County, Colorado Commercial aviators American women commercial aviators Aviators from California Aviators from Ohio 21st-century American women