I remember being on an Hawaiian airlines flight back in 1998 or 1999 (DC-9-50 IIRC) in which the Captain was female. Usually, as you enter the aircraft, it's often possible to see into the cockpit and I remember that because it sticks out.
Because the inter-island flights on Hawaiian airlines at least didn't have a first-class cabin, it was kind of like a first-come, first-serve kind of deal and I was one of the first people on the plane. I picked a spot in the front 1/3 of the plane if I recall. Either way the flight was very short (Honolulu to Kauai) and I don't think we even leveled off. It felt like we were climbing and then descending. On the way in and out, I remember being able to easily feel the exact moment we started descending.
As I was heading down the jetway I could hear two people walking at a good clip behind me and I kind of moved out of the way and it was the pilot and co-pilot. I've never seen the crew get out the plane that quickly but I remember hearing the Captain saying something about getting lunch. What was really noteworthy was the discrepancy in the two people.
The F/O was an Asian-American/Hawaiian guy who was short/average height and powerfully built, kind of like a football player; the Captain looked similar to a social studies teacher I had in 8th grade, except her hair was a little lighter. She was thin but really tall. I remember thinking that was kind of funny for some reason.
That's a really cool design and kind of reminds me of the Vampire mixed in with GA aircraft. Looking at the data on the plane, it seemed rather underpowered with a climb-rate that isn't terribly impressive. That said, the fact that it was stressed for a 9G limit load-factor is pretty cool.
2 of my favorite things together!
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Vigilante BuNo 147857 dressed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Naval Aviation, NAS Jacksonville, Florida (1961). The swimsuit-attired line of young ladies were the candidates for the tittle of "Miss Fiftieth". The 7th from the right was the winner.
Source
Aviation Rapture
It's interesting how bathing suits in those days looked more like dresses. When I first saw the image, I thought it was a dress lol.
