Amelia Reid | |
---|---|
Born | Amelia Lola 13 November 1924 Ord, Nebraska, US |
Died | 3 March 2001 | (aged 76)
Alma mater |
|
Spouse |
Robert Reid Jr. (divorced) |
Children | Robert "Robin" Reid III |
Awards | Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Lawrence P. Sharples Award |
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]
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]
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.
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.
On January 16, 2001, Reid had a stroke, and she died on March 3, 2001, at age 76.[1]