Angela Masson (born 1951) is an American pilot and artist. She was the first woman to be type-rated on the

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

on June 30, 1984.

Flying career

Masson began flying lessons at age 15 at

Clover Field Santa Monica Airport (Santa Monica Municipal Airport) is a general aviation airport largely in Santa Monica, California, United States. The airport is about from the Pacific Ocean (Santa Monica Bay) and north of Los Angeles International Airp ...

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. Shortly after getting her pilot's license, she started

air racing Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a prev ...

. At age 21, while flying in the

Powder Puff Derby The Women's Air Derby was the first official women-only air race in the United States, taking place during the 1929 National Air Races. Humorist Will Rogers referred to it as the Powder Puff Derby, the name by which the race is most commonly kn ...

, she set a record as the youngest person to fly coast to coast in a high performance aircraft.Int'l Women Pilots: 99 News, July 2000 In 1971 she trained armed forces pilot cadets at fellow aviatrix Claire Walters Flight School to build her flight experience, getting over 1,000 flight hours in less than a year. She then went on to fly as a charter pilot for Express Airways out of Naval Air Station Lemoore on a civilian contract for the Navy. Frustrated to see her former male students flying jets while females were barred from the military, she went back to school. At age 24, she wrote her PhD dissertation "Elements of Organizational Discrimination: The Air Force Response to Women as Military Pilots," which was presented before Congress during the Hearings about opening military the Academies to women (a copy can be found in the Congressional Records). Her paper was read by

Robert Crandall Robert Lloyd "Bob" Crandall (born December 6, 1935 in Westerly, Rhode Island) is an American businessman who is the former president and chairman of American Airlines. Called an industry legend by airline industry observers, Crandall has been the ...

, then President of

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

, who hired her as a pilot for American in 1976, at age 25. During her career there, she was the first woman to fly as First Officer on the

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

767 767 may refer to: * Boeing 767, a jet airliner * 767 (number) * AD 767, a year in the 8th century. * 767 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * Area code 767 Area code 767 is the local telephone area code of the Commonwealth of Dominica, within the ...

and

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, ...

. Masson earned aircraft type-ratings on the Airbus A310, Boeing 747,

757 757 may refer to: * Boeing 757: a narrow-body airliner * AD 757: a year * 757 BC: a year * 757 (number): a number * Area code 757 Image:Area code 757.png, The area colored red indicates the southeast corner of Virginia served by area code 757 pol ...

777 777 may refer to: * 777 (number), a number * AD 777, a year of the Julian calendar * 777 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * Boeing 777, a commercial jet airliner :* Boeing 777X, the newer generation of the Boeing 777. Art and entertainment Alb ...

DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

, DC-10, and MD-11. She holds the ATP license with commercial glider and seaplane endorsements, as well as flight engineer, ground and flight instructor certificates. Flying as Captain for over 20 years, she was the first female Chief Pilot for

(Miami domicile, 1997). As the most senior female pilot, she retired with over 31 years total service in December 2007.

Academic career

Dr. Masson graduated from Collegio Monte Rosa in Territet, Switzerland and got her BFA, MA, MPA and PhD in Public Administration from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. The Federation Aeronautique Internationale lists Dr. Masson's numerous Commercial Air Route Speed Awards set in the Boeing 777.

Art

A gifted artist, she was honored in art shows in Italy at the age of 18. She also sang: under the stage name "Tangela Tricoli" she recorded an album in 1982, "Jet Lady," which was re-released in 2004 by ArfArf records. She briefly hosted ''The Tangela Tricoli Talk Show'' on public access TV in Los Angeles.

Patents

The first true

electronic flight bag An electronic flight bag (EFB) is an electronic information management device that helps flight crews perform flight management tasks more easily and efficiently with less paper providing the reference material often found in the pilot's carry- ...

, a computing device designed specifically to replace a pilot’s entire kit bag, was patented by Masson as the Electronic Kit Bag (EKB) in 1999.USPTO Patent
# 17,974,775
Masson; Angela Electronic kit bag; and

Masson; Angela Electronic kit bag Her multiple patents describe a solution to aid pilots in their normal aviation activities, however, the EKB is intended to also function as a life-saving control device, able to land an aircraft remotely in the event of pilot incapacitation.

References

External links

Angela Masson, Featured Pilot for AOPA Pilot Magazine, May 2013
Museum of Flying: Angela Masson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masson, Angela Living people American aviators University of Southern California alumni Outsider musicians USC Sol Price School of Public Policy alumni American aviation record holders American women aviation record holders 1951 births 21st-century American women