The Today Show’s Willie Geist recently paid tribute to barrier-breaking pilot Emily Howell Warner, who was the first woman to be a permanent pilot for a major American airline in 1973. In 1976, she became the first female captain and eventually commanded the first all-women commercial flight crew. Warner died July 3, 2020. She was 80 years old.
Well, it’s not important, but here’s another follow up. Nancy herself would have cared less that she be recognized as “first woman Captain for a major U.S. Airline”.
For my own interest though I did try and find out if her husband is still alive. Captain Hermann died a few years ago. Nancy’s brother however is still alive and living in Kenai, Alaska. Phone number is: (907) 283-3321 and name is Dave C. Howard Jr. Email is: [email protected]. He says he doesn’t use email all that much. He’s 72 and isn’t all that handy with computers, but he said he’s happy to take any phone calls should anyone want to call. He remembers Nancy’s early career flying for the airlines and our conversation brought up a lot of sad memories, both for him and for me.
This effort to recognize Emily and her career is something from the heart and neither Nancy’s brother nor I want to do anything to detract from the recognition being given to Emily Warner. Who was first as a flight officer isn’t anything to argue about – I think the Soviets had female flight officers well before either Nancy or Emily’ got their positions.
For me personally, this got my attention only because Nancy was the person who first taught me to fly and thus has a special place in my life. Yes, she was flying as First Officer and Captain for PNA – which became Western Airlines – sometime in the 60’s. For all I know there may be other female flight officers who found their way to airline cockpits even earlier than Nancy or Emily. I admire and respect them all.
Over and out.
Well, looks like I’ve got some names wrong. Her name before marriage was Nancy D. Howard Lane and after she married the training pilot at Boeing her name changed to Nancy D. Hermann. She was a flight instructor at Safeway Airways when I learned to fly in 1963. She went on, in the 60’s, to fly for Wein Alaska Airlines, Pacific Northern Airlines (later became part of Western Airlines), and her obituary mentions a few other outfits she flew for before finally settling at Boeing as a training captain and delivery pilot. Here is her memorial. She died much too young at 62 from leukemia. I know she was publicized as the “first woman as captain of a jet airliner” when Western started flying Boeing 320’s, which would have been late 60’s. And since I was following her career because we were friends, I know for sure she was hired in the mid-60’s by PNA flying Connies since Red Dodge, who owned Safeway Airways, helped get her on board since he was a Captain with PNA and her friend. So, though she was not at all the kind of person who would claim to be “first” at anything, it’s only fair to recognize that she was flying for the airlines in the 60’s. Boeing personnel would have her entire flight history if anyone wanted to do a serious follow-up. Herman Hermann, her husband and fellow training Captain, may still be alive and findable . . . so he would be a source of additional information if he’s still alive. Boeing would know.
Her memorial: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/57872723/nancy-herrmann
Reading through these posts of mine I see I’ve made an idiot of myself by calling the Boeing 720 a “320”. Dumb. Pacific Northern Airlines (Western Airlines) used the 720 on their Seattle to Anchorage runs. The Anchorage papers featured Nancy when she made Captain. These 720’s were the first commercial jet flights in and out of Anchorage and were a big deal in the 60’s.
Dammit, I’ve left a message correcting this misinformation earlier. My initial flight instructor in 1963 was Nancy Howard. She went on to fly first officer for Pacific Northern Airlines (PNA). She went on to Captain and then continued her career with various airlines until she went to work as a training pilot for Boeing in Seattle. She married another Boeing training captain whose last name was Lane so her legal name at time of death was Nancy Howard Lane.
Anybody who wants to argue about this just needs to check with the personnel office at Boeing, or with anyone who knew her – many, many did.
The first female airline pilot in the U.S. was Nancy Howard Lane and her first airline job was with PNA.
Stop spreading misinformation. I’m sure Emily was a very competent and nice pilot but her being the first female airline pilot is simply not true.