In August 2002, I was certified as a private pilot by Evelyn Johnson, then 92 years old. I still remember her boarding the Cessna 172 with two pillows so that she could see over the dash. Unforgettable moment...

This lovely lady passed away Thursday at the age of 102 years young.

Below is an excerpt from the New York Times:

"In 2002, Mrs. Johnson, then 92, was the oldest flight instructor in the world, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. She continued teaching for three more years. Born just six years after the Wright brothers’ first flight in 1903, she flew 5.5 million miles, equal to 23 trips to the moon.


(Her hours, as regulations require, include periods when students were at the controls, but she, as instructor, was in charge. This last happened in 2005.)

The record for hours flown is held by Ed Long, an Alabamian, who had racked up more than 64,000 hours — most of that under 200 feet as he surveyed power lines in a Piper Cub. Legend has it that one of Mr. Long’s last statements was “Don’t let that woman beat me.”

Had she been able to fly after she developed glaucoma and her leg was amputated after an auto accident in 2006, Mrs. Johnson might have done just that. As it was, she continued to manage a local airport beyond the age of 100.

She taught 5,000 student pilots before she stopped counting, and certified more than 9,000 for the Federal Aviation Administration. Nicknamed Mama Bird, she taught future pilots of jetliners and cargo planes, future airline executives and former Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee.

When it came time in Senator Baker’s flight test for him to deliberately stall the plane, he told Mrs. Johnson, “This airplane wasn’t made for stalls.”

“I told him that if we don’t do them he’d just have to get along without his private pilot’s license,” she recalled. “He did them.”

This was definitely an extraordinary woman. My thanks to Josh for bringing her story to my attention.