Breaking Boundaries: Amelia Earhart's Record-Setting Flights

Amelia Earhart was catapulted into the national spotlight in 1928 when she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by airplane. From that day forward, Earhart continued to defy boundaries, setting never-before-attempted records in the male-dominated field of aviation. Earhart’s ground-breaking achievements not only asserted her as one of the greatest pilots of her time, but provided her the platform to create social change and challenge popular notions of women’s roles in society.

Following is a list of Earhart’s accomplishments in aviation that have helped inspire generations of women and girls to break boundaries in what ever they do:

- October 1922 – Earhart reaches an altitude of 14,000 feet at the Long Beach, Calif. Airshow.

- June 1928 – Earhart becomes the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air.

- September 1928 – Earhart completes the first woman’s solo, U.S. transcontinental round-trip flight.

- November 1929 – Earhart sets the aviation speed record for women when she flies her Wasp-powered Vega demonstrator an average speed of 184 mph over Los Angeles, Calif.

- June 1930 – Earhart sets speed records for the distance of 100 kilometers, and 100 kilometers with a payload of 500 kilograms.

- April 1931 – Earhart breaks altitude records for autogiros (the pre-cursor to helicopters) twice in one day at Pitcairn field in Pennsylvania – first at 15,000 feet, then 18,415 feet.

- May 1932 – Earhart becomes the first woman – and only the second person – to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo.

- August 1932 – Earhart sets the women’s nonstop transcontinental speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Newark in 19 hours, five minutes.

- July 1933 – Earhart breaks her own transcontinental speed record, reducing it to 17 hours, seven minutes.

- January 1935 – Earhart becomes the first person to solo any part of the Pacific Ocean and the first person to fly solo over both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans when she flies from Hawaii to California.

- April 1935 – Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Los Angeles to Mexico City.

- May 1935 – Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Mexico to Newark, N.J.

- March 1937 – Earhart sets the speed record for an east to west crossing when she flies from Oakland, Calif. to Honolulu, Hawaii in 15 hours, 52 minutes.

- June 1937 – Earhart completes the first non-stop flight from Africa, across the Red Sea, to the Indian sub-continent, Assab-Karachi.

- June 1937 – Earhart attempts to fly around the world at the Equator.