In the early days of flight it was difficult for a lady to become a pilot and break into the male dominated realms of aviation. The ladies were often ignored and had to overcome obstacles of prejudice that did not apply to men. Some of these intrepid, brave and very determined ladies became household names for their daring exploits, others, equally brave and determined, were less well known.

Born Sophie Catherine Theresa Mary Peirce-Evans in Knockaderry, County Limerick, Ireland in 1897 was one of the latter. Life for Sophie started badly when, before her second birthday, her mother was murdered by her father. Her father was found guilty but insane. Sophie went to live at her grandfather’s house in Newcastle West. She was brought up by two spinster aunts. Sophie had a passion for sports but had to battle against the discouragement of her aunts. Her determination to succeed stood her in good stead at this time and later in her life.

Sophie spent her school days in Dublin and, later joined The Royal College of Science in Ireland. She completed her studies with a first class degree in science. She continued with her sports, mainly hockey, and also wrote articles for the student magazine.

During the first world war she spent two years as a dispatch rider and, while in France, Sir John Lavery painted her portrait. By this time she had married and become Mrs Elliot-Lynn only to be widowed a few years later. She became Lady Heath after her second marriage which was to Sir James Heath in 1928.

Sophie moved to England in 1922 and became one of the founders of the Women’s Amateur Athletic Association. She became the first women’s Javelin champion and also set a disputed world high jump record. In 1925 she wrote the book ‘Athletics for Women and Girls’. In the same year she became a delegate to the International Olympic Council and took her first flying lesson to become a pilot.

Sophie qualified for her ‘A’ licence but was prevented from obtaining a Commercial Pilot’s Licence by the International Commission for Air Navigation which had banned women from becoming Commercial Pilots. Sophie had already shown her fighting spirit by being the first woman to make a parachute jump. She fought the ban winning a concession that if she attended a flight school and passed the test she could have the Commercial Licence. This she did and became the first woman to have a Commercial Licence in Great Britain. The ban was rescinded.

After setting altitude records for a small plane and in a Shorts seaplane Lady Heath, as she was now known, planned the flight which made her famous. Cape Town to London. The flight was scheduled to take three weeks but took over three months lasting from January 1928 to May. She became the first pilot to fly an open cockpit plane on that route. Her fame spread and she did many tours in UK and USA meeting the President and his wife. In America she was known as ‘Queen of the Skies’ and ‘Britains Lady Lindy’.

This is something that the training school should have made very clear as far as how much theory time and practical time has to be spent in order for one to qualify for the exam. However, if you have neglected to pay attention or to read the rules and regulations that the school has outlined then the problem could be your lack of understanding.

One thing that you want to be very clear on is that there is going to be certain segments to your training. Part of that will be your pre-solo and during that particular time you will have one of the school instructors with you. Once you have gotten past a certain point you are able to move on where you will start looking at your solo flying, which means being without an instructor.

Eventually, the ultimate goal at the end is to be able to get to the point where you’re ready to do your final test. You will have a logbook that is called your flight book, which is what you are going to be responsible for to keep track of all the hours affiliated with your course of both practical and your written or classroom work.

Every school has to follow the same outline for instruction and the basics of that will be your flying in an airplane that only has a single engine. There will be some cross country air time that has to consist of three hours. Part of this must be a night training with a 100 mile distance trip. This is your flight that you will be taking across the country and in addition to this you will have to have partaken in 10 departures and landings as well. This isn’t something that will be done at random, and you will have to follow the pattern that the traffic of the particular airport has scheduled.

Within two months, you have to make sure that you do three hours of free flying to qualify for your tests, which are 10 hours of being alone and five hours going across country on your own. You will have to be sure that the hundred and fifty cross country miles are spent in flight, and you will have to have made three stops during this time.