Amelia's First Flight and How She Influenced Other Pilots
By: Kayana Woods
By: Kayana Woods
Earhart was 12 years old the first time she saw an airplane. She didn't take her first flight until 1920. After her first airplane ride, she immediately began taking flight lessons. Earhart excelled as a pilot. Her first instructor was Neta Snook, one of the first women to graduate from the Curtiss School of Aviation. When Earhart began flying, she borrowed money from her mother to get a two seat plane. Earhart received her flying license in December 1921. Earhart also received her international pilot's license in 1923. She was only the 16th woman to do so. In 1928, Amelia was the first woman to fly as a passenger across the Atlantic Ocean. Later in 1932, she became the first woman to pilot a plane across that ocean. Amelia was also the first person to fly solo across the Pacific between California and Hawaii in 1935, and the first woman to compete in the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio in 1935.
Amelia Earhart influenced many pilots today. Being the first women to fly across the Atlantic in an airplane made her very famous. "She was very aware of the power and publicity. She understood that flying alone wasn't going to keep her in the public eye." Says Dorothy S. Cochrane, a Curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.
“Women, like men, should try to do the impossible.
And when they fail, their failure,
should be a challenge to others”.
- Amelia Earhart
And when they fail, their failure,
should be a challenge to others”.
- Amelia Earhart