Name Yvonne Sintes | ||
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Yvonne Pope Sintes (born 1930) is a retired British aviator of South African origin. She was the first female air traffic controller at Gatwick airport and later became Britain's first female commercial airline captain.
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Life
Sintes was born Yvonne Elizabeth van den Hoek on 8 September 1930 in Pretoria, South Africa.
She raised sons.
Career
Sintes worked a career within aviation that spanned multiple professions: air stewardess, member of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, flight instructor, air traffic controller, and pilot.
In 1953 Sintes was licensed as a private pilot and assistant instructor rating at Denham. In 1955 she became a co-founder of the British Women Pilots’ Association
Sintes worked at Gatwick Airport from 1960 to 1964 as the first female air traffic controller.
Morton Air Services recruited Sintes as a pilot in 1965. Starting in 1972, she was Britain's first commercial airline captain, which included crew responsibility. Sintes flew as a pilot for UK-based airline Dan-Air from 1975 until her retirement in 1980.