Turi Widerøe

Turi Widerøe
Relatives	Viggo Widerøe
Aviation career
Known for	Norway's first female air transport pilot

Turi Widerøe (born 23 November 1937) was Norway's first female air transport pilot. The daughter of aviator Viggo Widerøe, she was originally educated as a book designer. She later took a pilot's education, and, employed by Scandinavian Airlines System, became the first female pilot in a major airline in the western world. After ending her flight career she worked for numerous cultural institutions such as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, Gyldendal, Oslo Nye Teater and Riksteatret.

She was born in Oslo as a daughter of Viggo Widerøe (1904–2002) and Solveig Agnes Schrøder (1914–1989). Her father was a noted aviator who founded Widerøe's Flyveselskap A/S, a regional airline in Norway, in 1934. She was also a niece of noted engineer Rolf Widerøe.

In 1958 she graduated as a book designer from the Norwegian National Academy of Arts and Crafts, following a four-year education. In the same year she was awarded for her design of Solveig Christov's book Valgets brodd. She worked two years for the printing presses Grøndahl & Søn and Aksjetrykkeriet, and from 1960 to 1964 she was assistant editor for National Association of Norwegian Architects's magazine Byggekunst. She then took her private pilot's license in 1962. After working with ore research for the mining company A/S Sydvaranger in Inner Troms, she acquired her commercial license in 1965. She flew Noorduyn Norseman and de Havilland Otter seaplanes and later Twin Otter on scheduled routes and mercy flights for Widerøe's Flyveselskap north of the Arctic Circle. In 1968, she was employed by SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System). After graduating from the company's Flight Academy in 1969, she was certified as co-pilot on Convair 440 Metropolitan and became the first female pilot in a major airline in the western world. She also flew SAS' first jet aircraft, the Caravelle, and the DC-9 before she ended her flying career.

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