Amelia Reid

Amelia Reid (November 13, 1924 – March 3, 2001) was a pilot, flight instructor, businesswoman, airshow performer, and airport advocate.

A plaque honoring Reid at Reid Hillview Airport in San Jose.
Amelia Reid in front of a Taylorcraft L-2 primary trainer.

In 1960, Reid founded Amelia Reid Aviation, a flight school at Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, California. She ran the business out of her 1959 Ford and, later, out of two trailers. 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.[1]

Reid logged over 55,000 flight hours and trained more than 4,000 pilots. She flew in countless airshows, her last at age 75 in a Cessna Aerobat. She won the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Lawrence P. Sharples Award and was inducted into the National Association of Flight Instructors Hall of Fame.[1][2][3]

Reid's students include noted airshow performer Sean D. Tucker, aviation author and speaker Rod Machado, aerospace engineer and author H. Paul Shuch (whose recurring fictional character Avalon Eden[4] is based in part on Reid), and Jason Dahl, the captain on United flight 93 on September 11, 2001.

References
  1. Sweeney, Frank (March 5, 2001). "Top San Jose flight instructor Amelia Reid dies". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  2. "Aviation community mourns Amelia Reid, California's 'First Lady of General Aviation' and AOPA Sharples Award winner". Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Archived from the original on 7 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  3. "Flight Instructors Hall of Fame Inductees". National Association of Flight Instructors. 2007. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  4. "The Avalon Eden Stories". AvSport of Lock Haven. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
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