In 1923, Earhart became the 16th woman to receive an official Fédération Aéronautique Internationale pilot license.Įarhart moved to east to be near her sister and mother, and, after a second year at Columbia University in New York City, began working in Boston at the Denison Settlement House as a social worker with immigrant families. Earhart soloed in 1921, bought her first airplane, a Kinner Airster, in 1922 and wasted no time in setting a women's altitude record of 4,267 meters (14,000 feet). To pay for flight lessons, Earhart worked as a telephone company clerk and photographer. She took her first flight in California in December 1920, with veteran flyer Frank Hawks, and declared, 'As soon as I left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly.' Her first instructor was Anita 'Neta' Snook who gave her lessons in a Curtiss Jenny. She attended her first flying exhibition in 1918 while serving as a Red Cross nurse's aide in Toronto, Canada. Then, on August 24–25, she made the first solo, nonstop flight by a woman across the United States, from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, establishing a women's record of 19 hours and 5 minutes and setting a women's distance record of 3,938 kilometers (2,447 miles).īorn in Atchison, Kansas, on July 24, 1897, Amelia Earhart displayed an independent style from childhood, including keeping a scrapbook on accomplished women, taking an auto repair course, and attending college (but never graduating).

The feat made Earhart an instant worldwide sensation and proved she was a courageous and able pilot. Flying a red Lockheed Vega 5B, she left Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, Canada, and landed about 15 hours later near Londonderry, Northern Ireland. On May 20–21, 1932, Earhart became the first woman - and the second person after Charles Lindbergh - to fly nonstop and solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She served as aviation editor for Cosmopolitan Magazine and, like Charles and Anne Lindbergh, wrote about her flights for National Geographic.Īmelia Earhart is probably the most famous female pilot in aviation history, an accolade due both to her aviation career and to her mysterious disappearance. Earhart wrote books about her flights-20 hours and 40 Minutes, The Fun of It, and Last Flight-along with articles, editorials, and columns for many magazines and newspapers.

20 hours 40 minutes book