Yvonne Pope Sintes Dan Air & Mortons AS

[rog747]

wonderful clip of this delightful lady on BBC news this morning about her aviation career and her new book Trailblazer -

she started as a hostie then ATC, pilot & instructor then went on to be UK's first lady jet airliner pilot for Dan Air on Comets (and got eventual command) which she enthralled as ' my beautiful aircraft ' almost brought a tear:ok:

worth trying to find this on iplayer...or it maybe repeated all day on BBC news

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Yes excellent interview with Yvonne Pope Sintes who spoke with great nostalgia and pleasure about her life in aviation.

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe that (the late) Elizabeth Overbury was the first female pilot of a British commercial jet. She became a First Officer on Autair's BAC 111s in 1968.

I think that Yvonne has the distinction of being the first female Captain of a British commercial jet.

[Bergerie1]

Yvonne taught me to fly on a Tiger Moth in 1959. I visited her again recently and we had a lovely afternoon reminiscing about flying. She was a great instructor (kindly but demanding high standards), I am so glad she had such a good career and won so many awards. But she had to overcome a lot of male chauvinist piggery along the way.


Read her book 'Trailblazer in Flight' published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd.

[rog747]

thanks for the replies - i just ordered the book:)

[4Greens]

Why were (are) women pilots better than men ?

Because they had to be !!

[PAXboy]

BBC News - Yvonne Pope Sintes: Britain's first female airline pilot (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25547300)

[rog747]

thank you for posting the full clip!
trying to find more about Elizabeth Overbury

found this on another site:

Yvonne Pope:
Am I right in thinking this is Yvonne Pope who, in 1975, became the first woman jet captain in the UK?

Yep - that's the lady!
Originally working as cabin crew for BOAC in the 1950's, she started flying through membership of the Airways Flying Club and also joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve. She became a full-time flying instructor after her first husband died, leaving her with two young boys to bring up. A spell as an Air Traffic Controller at LGW followed, and Yvonne eventually joined Morton Air Services (then a BUA subsidiary) as a pilot on DC-3s. This eventually led to captaincy and Yvonne left Mortons shortly before they were fully absorbed by British United, to join Dan-Air. Initially flying in DC-3s and Ambassadors, she moved to jets on the Comets and gained her captaincy on 748's in 1970. Marilyn Booth was often her First Officer on the 748s, so all-female crews were common even back then. Yvonne became the UK's first Female Jet Airliner Captain on 16th June 1975, when she commanded a Dan-Air BAC One-Eleven from Gatwick to Heraklion. Followed by the DH Comet, her favourite.

Dan-Air was a pioneer in employing female pilots their airliners fleets (although there was no actual official policy - they just employed qualified pilots, regardless of gender). Yvonne was soon followed by the aforementioned Marilyn Booth, Elizabeth Overbury, Deli Gray Fisk and many many others.

[m5dnd]

Sorry wrong info!!

Cheers,
Nik

[rog747]

thanks Nik,

i wonder if Yvonne reads Pprune?

[OUAQUKGF Ops]

Rog 747 have sent you PM ref Elizabeth Overbury.

[rog747]

reply sent !

[fantom]

She has just appeared on the BBC World News channel.

[briani]

Interested to read this - brings back memories. Was Yvonne's husband Eric Pope (instructor) who I flew with in a Magister (or Hawk Trainer) with Airways Aero Associations from Denham - I was about 15 yrs. old then!?.

[Midland 331]

What a super clip of a unique lady!

Capt. Overbury used to come through Teesside on Dan 748s in the days of the "oiley" charters to Aberdeen, circa 1984. She was charming, gracious, and certainly not a strident feminist.

[gislong]

Hi ,
My name is Chris Gosling.Yvonne taught you to fly -- , my dad Leslie Gosling taught Yvonne to fly at the airways aero club , when she was a star girl with british south american airways .
I am hoping to find some one who can give me her address and or her e mail address ----
I am an out of date private pilot with about 400 hours in a tripacer , all in the seventies .
all the best ,
Chris.
p s I am located in Southampton Ontario Canada .

[gislong]

does anyone have an e mail or snail mail address for Yvonne

I am the son of the fellow who taught her how to fly at the airways aero club .

my e mail address is -
[email protected].
thanks .

[Bergerie1]

gislong, I have sent you an email.

[Sarahchambers]

Trying to find out if Yvonne flew Dan Air G-APDB? It would make an interesting story, that could be added to the history of the aircraft at Duxford.

[chevvron]

Never met Yvonne personally but I spoke to her on many occasions. I was attached to Glasgow ATC in 1972 for my post Aerodrome Control Course field training and she would frequently fly the Luton - Leeds - Glasgow route in a '748. The 'almost' standard procedure was to park on the stand, (but not nose - in), shut down the port engine, inbound passengers off, outbound passengers on, re-start the engine and away; usually about a 10 min turnround.

[Chris Scott]

Yvonne was with Morton's at Gatwick when I was seconded there as a rookie in 1967. She mainly flew the single-pilot Dove as a skipper so, being a co-pilot on Herons and Daks, I never flew with her. I don't recall her being a skipper on the Dakota, which - with its manual, un-tabbed flight controls - would be quite a handful in turbulence for someone of her slight stature.

She was the Morton's (BALPA) PLC chairman during the Bristow campaign of 1968 to eliminate BALPA's role in negotiating terms of employment on behalf of pilots in the financially-ailing BUA Group. It was hard for her to persuade the older Morton pilots that, although they were not on the BUA seniority list, theirs and the company's futures would be affected by Bristow's imposition of personal contracts. I did a little bit of canvassing on her behalf, and she was very calm, patient and supportive.

Soon after Morton's was merged into the fledgling BUIA, Yvonne left for greener pastures in Dan Air. The rest is a big chapter in the establishment of female airline pilots.