Gráinne Cronin (born about 1953) was the first woman to become a pilot for

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

and the first woman pilot commercially employed in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Life

Born to pilot captain Felim Cronin in

Ennis, County Clare Ennis ( , meaning 'island' or 'river meadow') is the county town of County Clare, in the mid-west of Ireland. The town lies on the River Fergus, north of where the river widens and enters the Shannon Estuary. Ennis is the largest town in Count ...

, Cronin's sister Caroline is also a commercial pilot. Her husband is also a pilot and her daughters Alana and Louisa Johnston both hold private pilot licenses, and Louisa has a commercial license. She learned to fly while she was at university in her father's

Piper Cub The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is P ...

. Rather than teach her to fly, her father asked his first officer Neil Johnston. Johnston taught her to fly and later married Cronin. She lives in

Malahide Malahide ( ; ) is an affluent coastal settlement in Fingal, County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, situated north of Dublin city. It has a village centre surrounded by suburban housing estates, with a population of 18,608 as per the 2022 ...

Career

Cronin was hired as a pilot by Aer Lingus in 1977. When she first joined in 1975, at the age of 22, it was as a flight attendant. But by the time she was 24, she had gone for flight training in

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. Her first flight was in January 1978. Initially working as a co-pilot, in 1988 she became the airline's first female captain. She retired on 25 May 2010. SAS were the first European airline to hire a woman pilot and

was the second. Within the next two years they had hired another two women. Though it seems to have taken a long time to get to this point,

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

didn't hire their first woman pilots for about another 6 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronin, Gráinne Aviators from Dublin (city) 1953 births Living people Irish women aviators Women commercial aviators People from Malahide