Flying Tigress: A Memoir

by Norah O'Neill

More than a witty memoir by the first woman pilot at a macho cargo airline and her adventures flying around the world, this is the excruciatingly honest yet compelling account of one woman's ascent to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976555506
• ISBN13: 9780976555506
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Ascending Journey Press
• Length: 327 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Well written memoir

From a reader's point of view, it is well written, a real page-turner and a worthwhile read. From a female airline pilot's point of view, it accurately portrays the lifestyle and experiences, many of Norah's being a carbon-copy of mine in a different country.

Having recently met the author I love the book

I believe she has written a very honest biographical almost day by day, at least year by year look at her life from the standpoint of being the 1st female pilot to fly for the Tigers and than being the 1st female pilot of the 747's. Historically this is a great work and certainly it does go through the kind of prejudices that women experienced breaking into male dominated fields. My own mother was a single mother who recieved her Licensed Practicing Accountant license during WWII because the males had gone to war. She fought her own battles with working within the "good old boy" world both during and after the war. Anyway I thought it was a marvelous read. Thanks again Norah

Fun and enlightening.

Everyone who makes it to that coveted position as a pilot with a major airline has to pay some serious dues. There was a point at which I was concerned that Norah's book might mostly consist of whining about enduring the same things we all had to go through to reach the pinnacle of our profession. Pilots, though blessed with the best job in the world, tend to like to whine about all that is wrong with it and particularly about how hard it was to get there. But Norah, to my relief, did an excellent job of portraying the difficulties without whimpering too much. And she did a superb job of showing how those difficulties might often be magnified for the simple, silly reason that she is female. In this respect, her story could even be called eye-opening for an old, chauvinistic, insensitive, line pilot like me. Norah is to be commended for her bravery in not only overcoming the many obstacles but also for being willing to openly share her private thoughts on the matter. Flying Tigress is exceptionally well written, thought provoking, and certainly worth the read. This is Your Captain Speaking: A Common Sense Manual for Keeping Your Wings Level

Overcoming the Odds

As a female jumbo jet captain myself, I can fully relate to many of Norah's experiences in this book while others are completely foreign (no pun intended) to me. But you don't have to be a female pilot or a pilot at all to appreciate the extraordinary breadth and depth of this ground-breaking (another pun!) woman's story. She was the legendary Flying Tigers' first female pilot and didn't know what to expect any more than their male pilots did. It is at once inspiring, heartbreaking, funny and frustrating to fly along with Norah at a time when guys really, really had no clue how to act around a woman in the cockpit. The ending of the book is especially wrenching and I recommend "Flying Tigress" to anyone who wants a great story with a surprising, true-to-life beautiful heroine with long flaming red hair who had to drive those guys absolutely nuts.