Chilean Pilots

W.83	First Officer	Margot 'Chile' Duhalde Sotomayor
	b. 12 Dec 1920, Rio Bueno, Chile	1 Sep 1941 to 30 Nov 1945

Father: Maximilliano Duhalde, Mother:  Rosa [Sotomayor], of Santiago, Chile

Ed. Liceo 3, Santiago, Chile

Chile's first female pilot (and later, Chile's first female air traffic controller)

 Postings: 15FPP

[Contract Terminated, 5 Apr 1942, but re-instated 9 Jul]

 3 accidents:

- 31 Jan 1942, a forced landing in a Magister after she got lost on a cross-country flight; the field chosen was unsuitable and the aircraft struck the boundary hedge

- 3 Jan 1943, the starboard tyre of her Albacore deflated during landing run

25 Jun 1944, the fuselage underside panel of her Typhoon blew off on take-off.

  Reprimanded 24 Apr 1945 for "contravention of Standing Order C.6"

"I should like to place on record how much she has deserved her success after such great difficulties which she has had to overcome. Her English is much improved..."

"An excellent pilot and a hard worker but she does not use common sense when ferrying. Discipline Fair." (Margot Gore, her CO)

Margot's Immigration card for Brazil, dated 8 Aug 1946; she was resident in Morocco, and the French asked her to demonstrate their aircraft in Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

"She returned to Chile in 1947 where she lived the rest of her life, marrying three times and working as a commercial pilot, instructor and finally as an air traffic controller, retiring at the age of 81" - BBC

 In 2009, she received a Veterans' Badge from the British Ambassador to Santiago, Howard Drake, for her work in the ATA.

d. 5 Feb 2018

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margot_Duhalde

 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):