For years, Charlie Bravo President Curt Banglesdorf has tried to convince his daughter, Brooke, to train to be a private pilot. After years of writing it off, she finally said yes. We’ll follow Brooke through the pilot training process and her personal experiences to be chronicled on the Charlie Bravo blog. A combination of Brooke’s [...]
René was recently featured in issue 56 of China's Global Flying Magazine. Check it out by clicking here!
Kathryn Creedy checked in with René Banglesdorf on behalf of Runway Girl Network about women in business pushing past their comfort zones. Something René Banglesdorf, CEO of Charlie Bravo Aviation, said to me in the course of our interview stopped me in my tracks because I recognized myself in what she was saying. I also realized [...]
Captain Christy Wise’s leg was completely severed by a boat propeller in 2014. Today, she’s back in the skies flying search and rescue missions in Lockheed’s HC-130J for the United States Air Force. Wise is the first female leg amputee in the history of the U.S. Air Force to return to flight, and she did [...]
After learning Jessica Cox’s story, you’ll likely find you have no excuse…for anything. Cox is the world’s first licensed armless pilot. Yes, armless. She’s the first armless black belt in the history of the American Taekwondo Association. She can play the piano, put her own contact lenses in, scuba dive, and text on her cell [...]
In 2009, Susan Baer became the first female Director of Aviation for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, running the area’s three biggest airports: LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark Liberty, as well as the smaller Stewart International and Teterboro Airports. Baer was the first person, regardless of gender, to manage all three of [...]
Harriet Quimby was the first of a generation of women that helped pave the way for women in aviation today. Before Amelia Earhart, Quimby was the female pilot that stole America’s hearts. Her aviation career escalated quickly, from the time she first became interested in aviation in 1910 to her tragic death in 1912. Her [...]
In 1997, Ms. Jane Garvey became the first woman to serve as Administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration after being appointed to the position by President Bill Clinton. She also was the first Administrator (regardless of gender) to be appointed to a five-year term, which she served from 1997 to 2002. Prior to her [...]
Betty Gillies, born in 1908, was the ultimate female pilot, serving as President of the Ninety-Nines, chairwoman of the All Woman Transcontinental Air Race (AWTAR) and commander of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), stationed at New Castle Army Air Base during World War II. During her time as President of the Ninety-Nines, an international [...]
A visit from a NASA employee to her third grade class is what initially sparked Victoria “Vicki” Van Meter’s passion for aviation. Though she made headlines flying airplanes, she would always tell friends and family that becoming an astronaut was the ultimate goal. A couple years after that NASA visit, Vicki’s dad saw a sign-up [...]
