Amelia earhart: Who was she? By
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In December 1920, Earhart and her father visited an air show in Long Beach, field where noted pilot Frank Hawks, gave Earhart a ride that changed the course of her life. "By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground," she said, "I knew I had to fly." After that 10-minute flight, which cost her father $10, she immediately became determined to learn to fly. Working at a variety of jobs, including photographer, truck driver, and stenographer at the local telephone company, she managed to save $1,000 for flying lessons. Earhart took her first lessons in January 1921, at Kinner Field near Long Beach. To reach the airfield Earhart took a bus to the end of the line, then walked four miles. Her mother also provided part of the $1,000 "stake" against her "better judgement." Her teacher was Anita "Neta" Snook, a pioneer female aviator who used a surplus Curtiss JN-4 "Canuck" for training. Earhart arrived with her father one day with the terse request, "My name is Amelia Earhart and I want to fly. Will you teach me?" Earhart's commitment to learn flying meant facing the frequently hard work and rudimentary conditions that accompanied early aviation training. Her new leather jacket lacked a look of experience, so Earhart slept in it for three nights to give the jacket a "worn" look. To complete the look, she cropped her hair short in the style of other female flyers. Six months later, Earhart purchased a second-hand bright yellow Kinner Airster biplane, which she nicknamed "The Canary." On October 22, 1922, she flew the Airster to an altitude of 14,000 feet, setting a world record for female pilots. The following year, on May 15, 1923, Earhart became the 16th woman to be issued a pilot's license, #6017, by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). 
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