Judy Cameron
Board | Trailblazing Aviator
Northern Lights Aero Foundation
Judy Cameron’s first flight in a single-engine Cessna-150, when she Was 19, had her gripping her seat and screaming… with delight. Knowing that she had to get back up in the air, she decided to become a pilot herself. In her aviation program at Selkirk College in British Columbia, she was the lone woman in a class of 30 men. Later she spent three unglamorous years flying for regional airlines based out of Alberta and Inuvik. When Air Canada hired her in 1978, she was only 23 and her hiring as a young female was front-page news, as she was the first female pilot hired at major Canadian airline. She became a captain in 1997 and in 2010 was the first female captain in Canada of the massive Boeing 777. After retiring in 2015, she was honoured with an Elsie MacGill Northern Lights Award and in 2016, the Ninety-Nines international organization of women aviators, chose Judy to be on their Canadian stamp. In 2021, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. Today, Judy is on the board of the Northern Lights Aero Foundation, a non-profit organization that celebrates and inspires Canadian women in aviation and aerospace. The Captain Judy Cameron Air Canada scholarship was announced by Air Canada in 2019, to assist women pursuing a career as a pilot or aircraft maintenance engineer.
Judy Cameron
Board | Trailblazing Aviator
Northern Lights Aero Foundation
Judy Cameron’s first flight in a single-engine Cessna-150, when she Was 19, had her gripping her seat and screaming… with delight. Knowing that she had to get back up in the air, she decided to become a pilot herself. In her aviation program at Selkirk College in British Columbia, she was the lone woman in a class of 30 men. Later she spent three unglamorous years flying for regional airlines based out of Alberta and Inuvik. When Air Canada hired her in 1978, she was only 23 and her hiring as a young female was front-page news, as she was the first female pilot hired at major Canadian airline. She became a captain in 1997 and in 2010 was the first female captain in Canada of the massive Boeing 777. After retiring in 2015, she was honoured with an Elsie MacGill Northern Lights Award and in 2016, the Ninety-Nines international organization of women aviators, chose Judy to be on their Canadian stamp. In 2021, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. Today, Judy is on the board of the Northern Lights Aero Foundation, a non-profit organization that celebrates and inspires Canadian women in aviation and aerospace. The Captain Judy Cameron Air Canada scholarship was announced by Air Canada in 2019, to assist women pursuing a career as a pilot or aircraft maintenance engineer.
