Amelia Reid
Amelia Reid (November 13, 1924 – March 3, 2001) was a mathematician, pilot, flight instructor, businesswoman, airshow performer, and airport advocate. She was the founder of Amelia Reid Aviation (now AeroDynamic Aviation) and is known as California's First Lady of Aviation.[1]
Early life and education[edit | edit source]
Reid got her first taste of flying in 1940 when pilot Evelyn Sharp took her on a ride in a Piper Cub J-2.[2] In 1941 Reid had her first flying lessons,[1] and in May 1946 she earned her pilot's license.[2]
Reid studied mathematics at Kearney State College in Nebraska, earning her bachelor's degree in June 1945.[1][2][3] Reid then attended San Jose State University where she earned her master's degree in mathematics.[1] She worked at NACA (now known as NASA) as a human computer and programing mathematician from 1945 to 1958.[1][3] Because the NACA Ames Research Center, where she worked, did not allow flexibility in her work schedule, she left after the birth of her son.[1]
Career[edit | edit source]
From there Reid returned to flying and became a certified commercial pilot with instructor ratings in 1960.[1] That same year, Reid founded Amelia Reid Aviation, a flight school at Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, California.[1] The company bought their first aircraft, a Taylorcraft L-2, for just $350. Reid initially ran the business out of her 1959 Ford and, later, out of two trailers.[2] She mortgaged her home and constructed a permanent hangar and office building in 1967, from which she operated her flight school for the rest of her life.[4][2]
Reid logged over 55,000 flight hours and trained more than 4,000 pilots.[1] She flew in countless airshows, her last at age 75 in a Cessna Aerobat. She won the 1996 Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Lawrence P. Sharples Award and was inducted into the National Association of Flight Instructors Hall of Fame.[4][1][5]
Reid's students include noted airshow performer Sean D. Tucker,[1] aviation author and speaker Rod Machado, aerospace engineer and author H. Paul Shuch (whose recurring fictional character Avalon Eden[6] is based in part on Reid), and Jason Dahl, the captain on United flight 93 on September 11, 2001.
Activism[edit | edit source]
In the 1960s, Reid-Hillview Airport, founded in 1939 by five local airmen including Reid's father-in-law, was sold to Santa Clara County.[1] The growth of Silicon Valley in the San Jose area instigated campaigns to close the airport.[1] Reid was a strong advocate of the preservation of the airport and a founder of the Reid-Hillview Airport Association.
Later life[edit | edit source]
On January 16, 2001, Reid had a stroke, and she died on March 3, 2001, at age 76.[1]
References[edit | edit source]
External links[edit | edit source]
- AeroDynamic Aviation, formerly Amelia Reid Aviation
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Aviation community mourns Amelia Reid, California's 'First Lady of General Aviation' and AOPA Sharples Award winner. AOPA Communications staff. (March 5, 2001) Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Retrieved 2009-05-06 from AOPA Online
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 AFTER 50 YEARS, FLIGHT STILL SUITS HER FANCY. Kathleen Donnelly. (1993-03-14) Retrieved 2023-12-03 from Chicago Tribune
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Guide to the Amelia Reid National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Human Computer Papers, 1945–1958. Ratana Ngaotheppitak. (November 2010) Retrieved 2023-12-02 from oac.cdlib.org
- ↑ 4.0 4.1
- ↑ Flight Instructors Hall of Fame Inductees. National Association of Flight Instructors. Retrieved 2009-05-06 from link
- ↑ The Avalon Eden Stories. Retrieved 2013-05-26 from AvSport of Lock Haven
- Articles with short description
- 1924 births
- 2001 deaths
- Aerobatic pilots
- Businesspeople from California
- American women aviators
- American flight instructors
- American women flight instructors
- Aviators from California
- 20th-century American businesspeople
- 20th-century American women
- San Jose State University alumni