Barbara Harmer
Barbara Harmer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 September 1953 Loughton, Essex, England |
| Died | 20 February 2011 (aged 57) Chichester, England |
| Occupation(s) | Pilot, Air traffic controller, Yachtmaster |
| Known for | First female pilot certified to operate the Concorde |
Barbara Harmer (14 September 1953 – 20 February 2011) holds the distinction of being the first female pilot certified to operate the Concorde.
Early life
Harmer was born on Staples Road in Loughton, Essex as the youngest among four sisters. She grew up in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, where she attended a convent school. At the age of 15, she left formal education to embark on a career in hairdressing.
Aviation career
After five years in hairdressing, Harmer shifted her professional path and became an air traffic controller at London Gatwick Airport. During her tenure there, she pursued A Level qualifications with the goal of studying law, completing courses in Geography, English Law, Constitutional Law, and Politics. At the same time, she started flying lessons, acquired her Private Pilot Licence (PPL), and served as a flight instructor at Goodwood Flying School. Two years later, in May 1982, she earned her Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL). Despite submitting over 100 job applications, she eventually obtained a pilot role at Genair, a small commuter airline operating out of Humberside Airport.
In March 1984, Harmer joined British Caledonian, where she piloted BAC One-Eleven jets for three years before advancing to the long-distance McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Following British Caledonian’s merger with British Airways in 1987—an airline that operated Concorde—she became one of only 60 female pilots among more than 3000 at BA and was the first woman to qualify as a Concorde pilot.
Flying Concorde
Harmer completed an intensive six-month Concorde conversion training in 1992. She made history on 25 March 1993 by becoming the first woman officially certified to pilot Concorde commercially. Later that year, she served as First Officer on flights to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). Although Jacqueline Auriol was the initial female to fly Concorde as a test pilot, Harmer was the pioneer female pilot on scheduled commercial Concorde routes.
By the time Concorde was retired in October 2003, Harmer had accumulated a decade of experience flying these scheduled services. In 2001, Béatrice Vialle of Air France became the second woman to fly Concorde commercially, completing approximately 35 transatlantic journeys before operations ceased. Subsequently, Harmer transitioned to flying Boeing 777 aircraft until she opted for voluntary redundancy in 2009.
Later life
Outside her aviation career, Harmer was a certified commercial yachtmaster who took part in international sailing competitions and won races alongside fellow Concorde crew members. She also developed a Mediterranean-inspired garden at her residence in Felpham with views over the English Channel. Harmer had planned to compete in a transatlantic yacht race in 2013 aboard her Archambault 35, but sadly passed away from ovarian cancer at St. Wilfrid's Hospice in Chichester at age 57.