Judy Cameron (born 1954), is a Canadian retired commercial airline pilot. She was the first Canadian woman pilot to fly for Air Canada, the second woman to fly for a Canadian commercial airline, the first Canadian female captain of a

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

and the first Canadian female captain of a Boeing 777. During a summer job interviewing pilots for

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transportati ...

, she became interested in an aviation career. She ended her Arts studies at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

and drove eight hours on a motorbike across British Columbia to enroll in flight school at Selkirk College in Castlegar. She was the only woman in a class of 30 men and had little background in math or physics. When she graduated in 1975, she was Selkirk's first female graduate. Cameron went on to work for regional airlines in Alberta, and also spent a year co-piloting a DC-3 in

Inuvik Inuvik (''place of man'') is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in what is sometimes called the Beaufort Delta Region, it serves as its administrative and service cen ...

, NT, where she loaded planes on her own for supply runs to oil fields in Tuktoyaktuk. In 1978, at the age of 24, she was hired by Air Canada, becoming the airline's first female pilot. She was the first woman hired as a pilot for a major Canadian airline and the second woman hired to fly for a commercial airline, following

Rosella Bjornson Rosella Marie Bjornson, (born July 13, 1947) is a retired Canadian airline pilot, who was the first woman in North America to be hired as a First Officer for a Canadian airline and the first woman member of the Canadian Air Line Pilots Associa ...

. Air Canada held a press conference and the news hit front pages—US pilot Emily Warner had only been hired in 1973. Passengers sometimes treated her poorly, hurled abusive and demeaning comments and even passed her garbage. Cameron was promoted to captain in 1997 and in 2010 became the first female captain in Canada of a Boeing 777. In 2015, she was awarded the

Elsie MacGill Elsie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Elsie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lily Elsie (1886–1952), English actress and singer born Elsie Hodder * Robert Elsie (1950–2017), Canadian expert in Albanian ...

Northern Lights Award. She retired on May 24, 2015, after a 37-year career with Air Canada, in which she had achieved 23,000 flying hours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Judy Canadian aviators 1954 births Living people Canadian women commercial aviators Members of the Order of Canada People from Oakville, Ontario