By Geoff Smith (@GeoffSmithLNN on Twitter)

Trailblazing pilot from Champion among Alberta Order of Excellence recipients

Oct 19, 2018 | 12:13 PM

EDMONTON – From a farm at Champion to the first woman to pilot a jet airliner in Canada.

The trailblazing achievements of Capt. Rosella Bjornson were acknowledged as she was presented with the Alberta Order of Excellence at Government House Thursday, Oct. 18. The other recipients were k.d. lang, Reg Basken, Wayne Chiu, David Manz, Sol Rolinger, Allan Wachowich, and Ralph Young.

Born in Lethbridge in 1947, Bjornson began to learn to fly at a young age, following in the footsteps of her father who had learned to fly after the Second World War. The day she turned 17, she received the surprise gift of her first official flying lesson at the Lethbridge Flying Club, and by the time she finished summer holidays before starting Grade 12, she had the mandatory 35 hours of flight time with an instructor. She earned her commercial licence and instructor’s rating while enrolled at the University of Calgary.

In 1973, as first officer on a TransAir twin-engine F-28 passenger jet, she was the first woman to serve in that role on a jet in North America. By 1990 she was a captain with Canadian Airlines, the first female Boeing 737 captain in Canada. Her career led her, through various airline mergers, to fly with Pacific Western, Canadian, Air Canada, and Zip before retiring in 2004.

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Breaking into a male-dominated field led to another achievement, working to have the rules changed so women could fly, either as a pilot or a passenger, right up until the last trimester of pregnancy under a doctor’s supervision. This was a far cry from being placed on immediate personal leave when she had been pregnant with her first child.

Bjornson was not the only Alberta Order of Excellence recipient with Lethbridge ties. David Manz, an expert in water filtration and irrigation, was an instructor at what was then called Lethbridge Community College from 1975-1980.