Lynn Rippelmeyer

Lynn Rippelmeyer is the first woman to fly the Boeing 747. Rippelmeyer flew the 747 as a first officer for Seaboard World Airlines 1980-1981. Seaboard World merged with Flying Tigers Airline in 1980. Lynn became the first woman to captain the "Jumbo Jet" across the Atlantic Ocean while at People Express Airlines in 1984,. Lynn started her aviation career as a TWA flight attendant in 1972 before obtaining a departmental transfer to pilot as a TWA B-727 flight engineer[1]. She was the first officer for the first all-female crew for a scheduled commercial US carrier (with Captain Emilie Jones, Air Illinois, DHC-6 Twin Otter, 30 December 1977). This event was featured in the PBS series We'll Meet Again with Ann Curry on Jan 8, 2019[2]. In 1982 at People Express, Rippelmeyer was a co-captain on the first all female Boeing 737 crew. People Express merged with Continental which later merged with United Airlines. At United, she trained on the B-787 Dreamliner before retiring in 2013. She has been honored with her uniforms being placed in the Smithsonian Institution, the San Diego Air and Space Museum, and the Monroe County Historical Museum. She was named a Woman of the Year in England (1984), inducted into the International Forest of Friendship by Betty Gillies, a WWII WASP and original 99; mentioned in Who's Who of American Women 1983/1984, and being featured in a BBC documentary, Reaching for the Skies (Episode 2 The Adventure of Flight)[3].