First all-Black female flight crew commemorates ten years

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46)- On February 12, 2009, First Officer Stephanie Grant had not been scheduled to fly the Delta Connection flight from Atlanta to Nashville.  She was on call that day when she learned the original first officer for the flight became sick.

“Our scheduling department gave me a call and told me what gate to show up at, and that all the passengers were already boarded and the other flight members were already there,” Grant said.

When Grant stepped in the cockpit alongside pilot Rochelle Jones, she and flight attendants Diana Galloway and Robin Rogers quickly realized something was unique.

“It was not until we actually closed up the doors and Robin and I looked at each other like, it’s all female,” said retired flight attendant Diana Galloway. “We are used to flying with all women, but when we saw that we were ‘sistas’ you know. We were joking like this is the sister, the soul sister flight,” Galloway added.

Galloway says it wasn’t until they landed in Nashville that it began to set in how special the trip was. 

“We realized wow, this is was amazing. This was something special,” Galloway told CBS46 reporter Hayley Mason.

The women cleared the plane and took pictures together. That day, the four women became the first all-African-American female flight crew to fly a commercial plane in the United States. It’s a flight that would not have happened if not for a sick call.

“I believe that it was just God’s divine intervention at that time to place us together on that particular day in the month of February,” Galloway said.

Monday afternoon, the women received proclamations from the City of Atlanta commemorating ten years since that history-making flight. The women say neither of them have flown with an all-Black, all-female flight crew since that day.

She believes their flight has helped inspire other crews to create those firsts for their respective airlines.

“We’ve created some awareness because there’s less than 150 women that fly commercially and in the military in this country,” Grant told CBS46.

Grant who graduated Hampton University with a degree in psychology, grew up around an air field. “The bug hit me as a child, I just didn’t know how to navigate from point a to point b,” she said.

At a family reunion, she met an older cousin, Herman Samuels, who inspired her to pursue flight school. Grant says Samuels was a member of the first all-black male flight crew.

“He took out the time to say ‘hey, it doesn’t matter what you’ve been doing or how old you are, if this is a dream of yours, you can obtain it.’” Grant said.

She says she served in the military and subsequently used the GI Bill to help pay for flight school.

The woman who met as a fluke are now close friends who talk often and meet up for lunch each year.

“I’ve fallen in love with each one of these women, each one of their personalities individually,” said flight attendant Robin Rogers. “I love them like my sisters,” she added.

The women also work to inspire other young women toward careers in aviation. 

“There are some glass ceilings that are still needing to be broken,” Grant said. “We are excited about the work that we are doing. We are out and we are encouraging and mentoring other young girls of color that they too can become a pilot because we need more.”

The crew is hosting a 10th anniversary scholarship gala on February 16th at The Gathering Spot to benefit women of color who are in flight school.

For more information, visit:  https://www.sistersoftheskies.org/event

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