Bonnie Tiburzi, is an American aviator. In 1973, at age 24, she became the first female pilot for American Airlines and the first female pilot for a major American commercial airline. At the same time she also became the first woman in the world to earn a Flight Engineer rating on a turbo-jet aircraft.
Early life
Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo was born Bonnie Linda Tiburzi. She was born August 31, 1948 in Connecticut. Her father was a pilot for SAS and later with TWA. After leaving the airline industry August Robert "Gus" Tiburzi owned and operated Tiburzi Airways - a flight school and charter company in Danbury, Connecticut.
Career
Tiburzi began her aviation career flying as a flight instructor and charter pilot. In 1973, at age 24, she became the first female pilot for American Airlines and the first female pilot for a major American commercial airline. She flew as a Captain on the Boeing 727, Boeing 757 and the Boeing 767. In 1986 Tiburzi wrote her autobiography, Takeoff: The Story of America's First Woman Pilot for a Major Airline. She retired from AAL in 1999 after 26 years.
Additional professional activities
Trustee for the College of Aeronautics from 1990 - 2000. Created and produced three "Women of Accomplishment" Award Luncheons for the Wings Club, Inc. in New York City from 1981 to 1983. These events honored women from various fields of endeavors - representing an array of important roles filled by women. Recipients included actress Polly Bergen, race car driverJanet Guthrie, TV anchorwoman Jane Pauley, feminist and author Betty Friedan, Rabbi Sally Priesand, actress and spokesperson Maureen O'Hara Blair, Moya Lear of Lear Aircraft Company, Television Workshop's Faith Stewart-Gordon, opera singer Anna Moffo and Muriel Siebert, Superintendent of Banks, New York State. Tiburzi received the "Chairman's Award for Outstanding Programming Service of the Year". Created the "Information Bank" - a networking system for the International Society Of Women Airline Pilots to help further the career of future female pilots. Guest speaker at many schools, colleges, and private clubs including the Federal Aviation Association, the Ninety Nines, the Smithsonian Air&Space Museum and the Wings Club. Trustee and Tennis Chairperson for the Millbrook Golf and Tennis Club from 1999 - 2001. Board Member of a New York Co-op Building in the 1990s
Publications
1984 - Autobiography, "Takeoff" published by Crown Publishing Company
1984 - Researched and co-authored a magazine article with Dr. Jonathan Scher about pregnancy and flying published in Mothers Today Magazine.
Wrote the Pilot’s Guide to a Perfect Plane Ride for Woman's Day Magazine
Featured in Working Woman Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, Reader's Digest, Gold Coast Pictorial, Good Housekeeping,, Women's Wear Daily, Vogue, Woman's Day and the Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine.
Appeared in books by Henry Holden, Captain Robert Buck, John M. Capozzi, Lisa Yount and Carole S. Briggs - list incomplete.
American Way Magazine 2001 and 2015
Awards and recognition
1974 - Tiburzi received the Amita Award honoring Italian-American Women of Achievement.
1979 - Recognized as a "Super Sister" and placed on Supersisters trading cards. These trading cards were distributed to school-age children nationwide.
1980 - Received the "Amelia Earhart Award" by the Northeast Chapter of Airport Managers
1982 - Featured in the Cutty Sark Salute to "Here's to Those Who Fly in the Face of Tradition" add campaign.
1984 - Recipient of the "Women of Accomplishment Award" by the Wings Club of New York City.
1985 - Recipient of the Zonta Club of New York's "Non-Stop Achievement Award".
1987 - Selected by Woman's Day Magazine as one of "50 Women Wo Have Changed Our Lives".
1988 - Featured in Family Circle Magazine's "Women Who Make a Difference".
