Kate Board

Katharine Board, known as Kate Board, is an English pilot, the world's first female qualified Zeppelin pilot.[1]

The Zeppelin Eureka which Board flew for Airship Ventures, seen in 2010

She started to learn to fly when her father gave her five hours of flying lessons for her 19th birthday, and after this worked at her local flying club, being paid in flying time. Her first flying job was with Virgin Balloon Flights, and Virgin subsequently offered her a job flying blimps, for which she trained at Kissimmee, Florida, in the United States. In 2005 she was flying an American Blimp Corporation A-60+ for Lightship Group, and was one of only about 100 active airship pilots in the United States. She had logged about 3,000 flying hours, of which only 250 hours was in planes, the remainder in airships.[1]

By 2011 Board was working for Airship Ventures who offered "Zeppelin tours of San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles and the Monterey Coast" in their craft Eureka, and she was described as the only female Zeppelin pilot in the world.[2][3] She had logged more than 5,000 flight hours and was certified by the CAA, LBA and FAA as a commercial airship pilot.[4]

By 2012 she had left Airship Ventures to fly a Zeppelin based at Friedrichshafen, Germany, the only other Zeppelin still flying. A second woman, American Andrea Deyling, qualified as a Zeppelin pilot that year.[5][6]

References
  1. Scott, Phil (5 October 2005). "Pilots:Kate Board". Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  2. "A zeppelin biz takes flight". Money. CNN. 10 April 2009. Retrieved 6 March 2020. Photo of Board on slide 3
  3. Lumsden, Marshall (March 2011). "The latest in sightseeing tours, brought to you by Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin". Air & Space Magazine. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  4. "Katharine Board – Pilot". People. Airship Ventures. Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  5. Maloney, Clancy (September 2015). "Flying the Zeppelin: Friedrichshafen, Germany" (PDF). PeakGusts. Ninety-Nines, Rio Grande Norte Chapter. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  6. "Airship Ventures Announces First American Female to Earn Zeppelin Pilot Qualification" (PDF). Airship Ventures. 2012-05-30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-20. Retrieved 2013-02-25. (pdf)

Further reading
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