Top 9 Trailblazing Women in Aviation

9 Female Aviation Innovators Bulgarian pilot Maria Atanossova was the first woman to pilot a commercial flight into the UK. Alia Twal is one of 20 female pilots in Jordan, a country with a population of 6.3 million. With Middle East air carriers expanding, the time is ripe for women to enter the cockpit. Patricia Mawuli is Ghana's first female civilian pilot and the first woman in West Africa certified to build and maintain rotax engines. Esther Mbabazi is Rwanda's first female commercial pilot. Her desire to take to the skies never wavered, even after her father passed away in a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Female pilots exist even in countries with a contentious track record regarding women's rights. Latifa Nabizada (pictured) is Afghanistan's first woman military helicopter pilot. Female aviation history in the region extends as far back as the '30s. Pilot Sahavet Yslamazturk (pictured) was one of a small group of Turkish women aviators trained at the Turkkusu ('Turkishbird') Flight School. Amelia Earhart is perhaps one of the most famous female aviators of all time. In 1928, she became the first woman to fly the Atlantic as a passenger, and in 1932, the first to make the flight solo. American pilot Jacqueline Cochran was considered one of the most gifted racer pilots, of any gender, of her generation. In 1953, she became the first woman to break the sound barrier. 1 of 9