Béatrice Vialle facts for kids

Béatrice Vialle, born on August 4, 1961, in Bourges, France, is a famous French pilot. She is known for being one of only two women in the world who flew the amazing Concorde passenger jet. She was also the first French woman to pilot a supersonic airliner.

Early Life and Training

Béatrice Vialle studied at the École nationale de l'aviation civile. This is a special French university for civil aviation. She joined as an airline transport pilot student in 1981. This training helped her become a professional pilot.

Flying Career

After finishing her studies, Béatrice Vialle started her career at an airline called Air Littoral. There, she flew an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante, which is a type of small airplane.

In 1985, she moved to Air France, a much larger airline. At Air France, she first flew the Airbus A320. Later, she became a pilot for the huge Boeing 747 aircraft.

Flying the Concorde

Béatrice Vialle achieved a major milestone on July 24, 2000. On this date, she became qualified to fly the Concorde. The Concorde was a very special plane because it could fly faster than the speed of sound!

Her first commercial flight as a Concorde pilot was on November 19, 2001. This made her one of only two female Concorde pilots in the world. The other female pilot was Barbara Harmer from Britain. Béatrice Vialle was also the first French woman to pilot a supersonic passenger plane. It's important to know that Jacqueline Auriol, another Frenchwoman, had flown the Concorde before, but she was a test pilot, not a pilot for passenger flights.

Béatrice Vialle made 45 supersonic flights between Paris and New York City. She also completed three trips across the Atlantic Ocean in the Concorde. Her time flying the Concorde ended on May 31, 2003. After this, she became a Captain flying Boeing 747-400 planes.