On Wednesday, Claudia Simpson Jones and Graham Simpson received the FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award during a special ceremony at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. The award is part of the agency’s recognition of safe pilots.

To be eligible for the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, the applicant must hold a U.S. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) or FAA pilot certificate, have 50 or more years of piloting experience, or 50 or more years combined experience in both piloting and aircraft operations.

Applicants are required to submit three letters of recommendation from someone in the industry along with a detailed account of their aviation experiences. 

The application packets for Simpson Jones and Simpson were a little over an inch thick, and according to an FAA representative, “enjoyable reading.”

Simpson Jones, 79, started her aviation career with her first solo on December 3, 1967. As if that wasn’t enough of a memorable experience, an aviation luminary was in attendance. 

“William T. Piper was there the day I soloed,” Simpson Jones said. 

She earned her private pilot certificate in March 1968 and continued training, earning a helicopter rating, commercial certificate for airplane, seaplane rating, Airline Transport Pilot and CFI certificates, and type rating in a Boeing 737. She was one of the first women to be hired by a major airline when she became a first officer for Continental Airlines in 1977.

Eventually her career took her to Southwest Airlines and the captain’s seat as well. She became an simulator instructor for Alaska Airlines for a time, eventually retiring from aviation in 2000 with 24,000 hours logged.

Among her aviation accolades, she served as the first president of the International Society of Women Airline Pilots (ISA+21).

She didn’t learn to fly to get to the airlines, she said. Also a musician, she originally learned to fly as a means of transportation, flying her band around in a Piper Cherokee Six.

“I had maybe 40-something hours at the time, and the band would just jump in the airplane and we’d go,” she said, noting that music remains a big part of her life.

She was working as a CFI when she intercepted her younger brother Graham on his way home from high school. Ten years his senior, she was in charge, she said. Simpson said he remembers her telling him, “We’re going to the airport for an hour,” and she then gave him a flying lesson.

Graham Simpson soloed on September 23, 1970, in a Piper Colt and earned his private pilot certificate in 1971 right after his 17th birthday. Like his sister, he spent the next few years adding ratings, including commercial, helicopter, instrument, CFI, Flight Engineer, ATP, and type rating in a B-737 and Airbus A320. 

Simpson spent 41 years at the airlines, racking up more than 30,000 hours. Some of those were flown in the former Piedmont Airlines 737 now on display at the Museum of Flight. 

“The last time I was in this airplane was in 1985,” said Simpson, taking the left seat for a photo op with his sister.

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According to the flight school, the Spirit Wings Pilot Pathway program will enable Thrust Flight pilots who have achieved the requirements for an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate to join Spirit as first officers on the Airbus A320.

Pilots in training have the opportunity to apply for the pathway program as soon as they have reached 500 hours of total flight time.

“If successful in Spirit’s interview process, they will receive a conditional offer of employment,” said the school, which is located in the north Dallas suburb of Addison.

The creation of the Spirit Wings Pilot Pathway underscores the trust that major airlines place in the training provided by Thrust Flight, Patrick Arnzen, the flight school’s CEO, said in a statement.

“This partnership will create a pathway to abundant career opportunities, enabling our pilots to embark on a journey with a fast-growing commercial airline,” Arnzen said. “Together, we will empower a new generation of aviators to achieve their dreams.”

For Spirit Airlines, the pathway program creates a pool of applicants from which to draw.

“Thrust Flight is a top-tier flight school, and our new partnership is a great addition to the Spirit Wings Pilot Pathway program that expands Spirit’s pipeline of professional pilots,” said Ryan Rodosta, senior director of flight operations and system chief pilot for Spirit Airlines. “Our continued growth makes this the perfect time to land a career on the flight deck with Spirit, which comes with opportunities to fly new planes, experience new destinations, and enjoy a great quality of life.”

Spirit Airlines flies to more than 90 destinations in the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The airline has a crew base at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (KDFW).

In addition to Spirit Airlines, the school already has pilot pathway programs in place with Envoy, SkyWest, Avelo, Republic, and Air Wisconsin airlines.

About Thrust Flight

Thrust Flight has been training pilots in multiple locations in North Texas for the past 15 years. The school has a fleet of 30 modern aircraft, ranging from Cessna 172s to Piper SportCruisers and Piper Seminoles.

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Though it didn’t specify how much it would miss its target, the OEM said that the final figure would not be “materially short of the ‘around 700’ delivery target.” In 2021, Airbus delivered 661 aircraft to customers worldwide.

In the same update, the company said it delivered 68 commercial aircraft in November to 40 customers, bringing total deliveries up to that point to 565 deliveries to 72 customers for the year. The OEM received 29 new orders in November and 14 cancellations, bringing Airbus’ backlog to 7,344 aircraft.

• READ MORE: 737 Max Orders Help Boeing Crush Airbus at Farnborough Airshow

It also said it would slow the production rate of its Airbus A320 jetliner for 2023 and 2024, making 65 instead of 75 per month. It said it hopes to regain the capacity to produce 75 per month by the middle of the decade 2025.

The European manufacturer will disclose its full-year 2022 commercial orders and delivery results in early January 2023 and overall full-year results in February 2023.

In its global market forecast that stretches between 2022 and 2041, Airbus forecasts that demand for passenger traffic will grow annually by 3.6 percent over the next 20 years. Based on that, Airbus predicts a need for 39,490 new passenger and freighter aircraft over the next 20 years. It expects 31,620 to be single-aisle and 7,870 to be widebodies.

• READ MORE: Airbus Highlights Efforts to Cut Greenhouse Gases

Airbus said it predicts the demand for Freighters to reach 2,440 aircraft over the two decades, with 900 of those being new-built. With sustainability sharply in focus and an industry commitment to get to net zero in carbon emission by 2050, OEMs are also keen on deploying more climate-friendly aircraft.

• READ MORE: JetNet CEO Greg Fell Issues a Call to Arms on Sustainability

According to Airbus’ report, only 20 percent of the current in-service fleet consists of the latest generation fuel-efficient aircraft and replacing older generation aircraft would be one of the most straightforward ways to decarbonize the sector.

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