Angela Masson facts for kids

Gayl Angela Masson was born in 1951. She is an amazing American aviator, inventor, and artist. She flew for American Airlines for more than 30 years. She was also the first woman allowed to be a captain of a Boeing 747 airplane.

Angela studied at the University of Southern California. She earned a special degree called a PhD in 1976. She focused on making airplanes safer. Her big research paper was about how the Air Force reacted to women wanting to be pilots. She also set many speed records for how fast planes could fly on regular routes. She was the first woman to become a Chief Pilot for American Airlines.

Masson has taught about flying (aeronautics) at Jacksonville University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She invented and got a patent for something called the Electronic Kit Bag. This was the first real electronic flight bag. Angela is also a talented painter and musician. She recorded an album called Jet Lady in 1982 under the name Tangela Tricoli.

Early Life and School

Gayl Angela Masson was born in 1951 in Los Angeles, California. Her parents were Margo and Jack Masson. Her father was a heart doctor and also a pilot. Angela finished school at Collegio Monte Rosa in Territet.

Angela started going to the University of Southern California when she was just 15 years old. She studied there from 1967 to 1976. During this time, she earned several degrees, including her PhD. She studied Public Administration, focusing on how to make flying safer and how systems work in the aerospace world.

Flying Career Highlights

Angela Masson began taking flying lessons when she was 15. This was at Clover Field in Santa Monica, California. She flew a Cessna 150 by herself for the first time in 1967. Soon after getting her pilot's license, she started air racing.

When she was 21, she flew in the 1972 Powder Puff Derby. She set a record as the youngest person to fly across the United States in a fast airplane.

In 1971, Masson trained new pilots for the U.S. armed forces. She flew over 1,000 hours doing this. Later, she worked as a charter pilot for Express Airways. She flew for the Navy under a special contract. She noticed that her male students were flying jets, but women were not allowed in the military as pilots. This made her want to go back to school for her doctorate degree.

At age 24, she wrote her PhD paper called "Elements of Organizational Discrimination: The Air Force Response to Women as Military Pilots." This paper was even mentioned in the U.S. Congress.

Joining American Airlines

The president of American Airlines, Robert Crandall, read Masson's paper. He was so impressed that he hired her as a pilot in 1976 when she was 25. During her time at American Airlines, she was the first woman to fly as a First Officer on several large planes. These included the Boeing 707, 767, and Douglas DC-10.

Angela Masson learned to fly many different types of aircraft. She earned special certifications for planes like the Airbus A310, Boeing 747, 757, 767, 777, DC-9, DC-10, and MD-11. She also has licenses for commercial gliders and seaplanes. On June 30, 1984, she became the first woman to be certified to fly the Boeing 747.

Setting Speed Records

Masson has set eight world speed records. Several of these were for how fast commercial planes could fly on regular routes. She set these records in a Boeing 777 between 2001 and 2004. The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (an international air sports group) has listed her many Commercial Air Route Speed Awards.

Angela flew as a Captain for over 20 years. In 1997, she became the first female Chief Pilot for American Airlines in Miami. She was the most experienced female pilot when she retired in December 2007. She had served for over 31 years.

She helped start the International Society of Women Airline Pilots. She was the Chairwoman of this group from 2009 to 2011. In 2018, she was honored by being added to the California Aviation Hall of Fame.

Teaching and Art

Angela Masson is an assistant professor of aeronautics at Jacksonville University. From 2016 to 2020, she was also a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She taught at the St. Augustine High School Aerospace Academy too.

Angela is a very talented artist and painter. When she was 18, 52 of her oil paintings were shown in Italy. Her mother described them as "Big Einstein faces with three eyes." Two of her paintings were even used in the 1995 movie The Perez Family.

Masson also briefly hosted a talk show on public access TV in Los Angeles. She sang and recorded the 1982 album Jet Lady using the name "Tangela Tricoli." The album was re-released in 2004.

Inventions and Patents

In 1999, Angela Masson received a patent for the first real electronic flight bag. She called it the Electronic Kit Bag (EKB). This device was made to replace all the paper charts and manuals a pilot usually carries. Her patents describe how the EKB helps pilots with their daily flying tasks. It is also designed to be a life-saving device. It could even land an aircraft remotely if a pilot became unable to fly.

Personal Life

Angela Masson lives in St. Augustine, Florida. She once ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 1981. Her daughter, Athena, is a meteorologist who studies weather and tropical storms. Angela's sister, Lisa Masson, is a doctor in Los Angeles. Angela owns a small plane called a Scottish Aviation Bulldog.