Norah O'Neill (August 23, 1949 – September 22, 2017) was an American aviator who learned to fly in 1973 and became the first woman pilot for Alaska Central Air (1974) and the
Flying Tiger Line
Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a major military charter operator during the Cold War era for both cargo and personnel (the latter with leased aircraft). The airline w ...
(1976).
During her thirty-five years as an airline pilot, Norah amassed 22,000 hours and was the first woman in the world to pilot the
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company.
After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in July ...
(1977) and to fly passengers on the
Boeing 747 (August, 1980).
Piloting large jet transports on trans-pacific routes for
Flying Tigers
The First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was formed to help oppose the Japanese invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States ...
resulted in Norah being photographed and interviewed by
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
n publications as the first woman airline pilot to land in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
,
Japan, the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
,
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
.
Mentoring and encouraging the female
aviators who followed her was an important part of Norah's career. She was one of the founders of th
International Society of Women Airline Pilots (ISA + 21)in 1978. She served as vice president of that society for two years and as historian for twenty years.
She was also a contributing member of th
Women in Aviation International (WAI)and
The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots.
Norah spoke at schools and institutions about women pursuing their dream careers. Norah Ellen O'Neill died on September 22, 2017, at her home in Seattle of colon cancer.
Author
Norah's memoir
''Flying Tigress'' (p.2005) gives a candid account of the many challenges she overcame to become a woman 747 pilot in the male dominated commercial pilot profession.
Norah was a contributing writer fo
and ''Heart of a Military Woman'' (p. 2009).
Honoree
Norah has been featured in exhibits about women in aviation at various air and space museums, including the
San Diego Aerospace Museum (1994) and the "Chasing Horizons: Women in Aerospace" exhibit at the
Museum of Flight
The Museum of Flight is a private non-profit air and space museum in the Seattle metropolitan area. It is located at the southern end of King County International Airport (Boeing Field) in the city of Tukwila, immediately south of Seattle. ...
at
Boeing Field
Boeing Field, officially King County International Airport , is a public airport owned and operated by King County, five miles south of downtown Seattle, Washington. The airport is sometimes referred to as KCIA (King County International Airp ...
in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
(2010).
In 2009, Norah was inducted into the
International Forest of Friendship for her outstanding contributions to aviation.
In 2010 she was one of 100 women pioneers honored by the
University of Washington
The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington.
Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
Women's Center at th
suffrage centennial galaWomen Unbound.
[University of Washington Women Unbound Gala 2010 http://womenunboundgala.wordpress.com/]
Artist
After retirement in 2009, Norah resided in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...
where she created wearable art fo
Tigress One Designs
References
External links
Flying Tiger LineInternational Forest of FriendshipInternational Society of Women Airline Pilots (ISA + 21)Women in Aviation International (WAI)The Ninety-Nines, Inc.*
ttps://digitalcollections.museumofflight.org/collections/show/762 Norah O'Neill Papersat The Museum of Flight Digital Collections
San Diego Air and Space Museum Tigress One DesignsNorah O'Neill's Web Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Norah
1949 births
2017 deaths
American commercial aviators
Aviators from Washington (state)
American women commercial aviators
21st-century American women