Above, Rosella (L) at the June/99 Canadian Women in Aviation
Conference
Rosella Marie Bjornson was born on July 13, 1947,
in Lethbridge, Alta. She was raised on her parents' farm near
Champion and attended high school in nearby Vulcan. She showed
enthusiasm for flying at an early age because of her father's
interest. Ken Bjornson learned to fly in 1946 and took his
daughter flying in his Aeronca Champ from the time she was a very
young child.
Rosella had her first flying lesson on her 17th
birthday at the Lethbridge Flying Club and completed her Private
Pilot's Licence in 2 months. She attended the University of Calgary
where she majored in geography and geology. During this time she
accumulated flying hours and studied for her Commercial Licence,
which she obtained in 1967. In the same year, she experienced
competitive flying by entering the Alberta Centennial Air Race. She
and her female co-pilot secured a first place finish by completing
the race with the exact estimate of their flight time and within one
tenth of a gallon of their fuel consumption estimate.
While on campus, Rosella was instrumental in
organizing the University of Calgary Flying Club. She also devoted
time to the first group of Girl Guide Air Rangers in Calgary and
started the ground work which led to the formation of an Alberta
Flying Farmer Teen Chapter.
In 1969, Rosella received her Instructor's Rating
and began instructing at the Flying Club in Winnipeg. Within a year
she had earned her Class II Instructor's Rating. On May 25, 1972,
she was awarded the 89th Gold Seal of Proficiency from the Royal
Canadian Flying Clubs Association. While in Winnipeg, she was
involved in organizing the Manitoba Chapter of the Ninety-Nines, the
International organization of Women Pilots. During her final year
of instructing, she devoted her spare time to training a Squadron of
Air Cadets.
By 1973, Rosella had 3,500 hours flying time, an
Air Transport Rating and a Class I Multi-engine Instrument Rating,
and applied to fly with the airlines. She was hired as a First
Officer at Transair, the fourth largest airline in Canada. This
gave her the distinction of being the first female to be hired as
First Officer in North America on scheduled jet equipment, and the
first female to be hired by a commercial air line in Canada. She
was the first female member of the Canadian Air Line Pilots
Association.
In June
1977, Rosella married Bill Pratt, a corporate pilot flying out of
Winnipeg. The onset of her pregnancy in 1979 created another first
in that there was no precedent set for a pregnant pilot. She took a
personal leave of absence (sick leave was not appropriate in her
case) and returned to work in 1980 as First Officer on the Boeing
737 with Pacific Western Airlines (PWA), which had purchased
Transair.
The family moved to Edmonton and both Rosella and
her husband flew for PWA. After a second pregnancy in 1984, she was
involved in discussions with Transport Canada regarding regulations
dealing with pregnant pilots. Subsequently, the regulations were
changed to allow a pilot who is pregnant to fly "while under her
doctor's supervision". Bjornson again returned to work as First
Officer on the Boeing 737 at a new airline, Canadian Airlines
International, which had formed by merging PWA, CP Air, Eastern
Provincial Airlines and Nordair.
Rosella received a number of prestigious awards in
1988. In June, she was inducted into the International Forest of
Friendship in Atchison, Kansas. A Certification of Appreciation in
recognition of her leaderships in the activities of the organization
was presented to her by the International Organization of
Ninety-Nines in Oklahoma City. In October of that year, she
received a Pioneering Award from the Western Canada Aviation Museum
in Winnipeg.
In the winter of 1990, Rosella became the first
female Captain with Canadian Airlines International and the first
woman to be promoted to Captain with a major Canadian air carrier.
In 1991, Rosella received the National Award of
Achievement at the National Transportation Day kick-off celebrations
in Halifax in May. She also was the recipient of the Manitoba Award
of Achievement at the NTW Conference in Winnipeg on June 6. The
Award of Achievement is presented for innovation and initiative in
bringing positive and measurable improvements of significant and
enduring benefit to transport in Canada.
Throughout her career, Rosella has made a valuable
and ongoing contribution to the youth of the nation by participating
in school career days. In 1990, she was featured in a poster
campaign by the Alberta Government, "Dream/Dare/Do", encouraging
young people to set goals and strive towards them.
Rosella Marie Bjornson was inducted as a Member of
Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame in 1997.
(Above write-up was published in the Nov/99
Canadian Flight)
Other women who are inducted in the Canadian
Aviation Hall of Fame include Helen Bristol, Elsie MacGill, Marion
Orr, and Molly Reilly. The Hall of Fame is located in the
Reynolds-Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin, AB, approximately 40 km south
of Edmonton, on Hwy 13. For more info call 403-361-1351.
