Check rides were a passion for her. In all, she gave over 9,000 check rides, more than any other examiner. Despite the colossal flying experience, she never wrecked an aircraft. She did experience two engine failures, fire in the air and other problems, but handled every emergency with great aplomb.

Keeping a meticulous record of flying hours is second nature to any pilot because these figures, tabulated according to the types of aircraft flown, gives a fairly good idea of the experience level and capability of the pilot. Many private aviators fail to complete even a thousand hours over a lifetime. Even pilots who regularly fly intercontinental airliners are happy if they can reach around 15,000 or 20,000 hours. And then there was Evelyn Bryan “Mama Bird” Johnson who totalled 57,635.4 flight hours, quite enough to see her name listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the woman with the highest flight time ever. It amounts to an astounding sixand-a-half years spent in the air, or over a tenth of her 60-yearlong flying career. In fact, there was just one man, Ed Long from Alabama, USA, who accumulated more than her, about 64,000 hours. But most of his flight time was spent routinely surveying power lines in a Piper Cub. By contrast, almost all of Evelyn Johnson’s hours were handson dual instructional flying and “check rides”, the equivalent of a final flying exam. She probably trained more pilots and conducted more flying tests than any other instructor, male or female. Her nickname referred to her caring nature and abiding interest in the students she trained.

Evelyn was born in Corbin, Kentucky, USA, on November 4,1909. A few days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, her husband joined the Army Air Corps, leaving Evelyn in sole charge of their laundry business. Searching for something to distract herself from the tedium of almost 18 hours a day of laundry work, her eye happily fell on an ad for flight classes. The prospect held instant appeal.

Her first flight lesson was in October 1944 in a Piper J3 Cub. On November 8, 1944, she completed the minimum eight hours required before qualifying to go solo. Then her instructor alighted from the Cub, asking her to get airborne alone. Later she said she was glad nothing untoward happened because she really didn’t know much about flying at the time. However, she made quick progress, earning her private pilot’s certificate in June 1945 and a commercial pilot’s licence in 1946. She became a flight instructor in 1947. It was the start of a lifetime vocation teaching others to fly, over 5,000 student pilots in all. She was designated examiner in 1952 by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reaching the pinnacle of her career in 1979 when she was chosen Flight Instructor of the Year. Along the way she also qualified to pilot seaplanes and as instructor on helicopters. She participated in several air races. For 19 years she worked with flying just about everything Cessna produced.

Many aviation pioneers began flying young and died early. In contrast, Evelyn set the tone for the more mature flyer. Beginning at 35, she continued flying well into her nineties. For many years she was the oldest flight instructor in the world. She finally stopped flying in 2005 at the age of 96 when her leg had to be amputated after a car accident.

Her students who held her in high esteem ranged from those flying for sheer fun to professional aspirants who went on to captain large jetliners. She taught them that concentration, study, effort and dedication are the attributes of a good pilot. A US Senator who learned flying from her once commented, “She’s the sweetest, kindest lady you would ever want to meet except when she’s doing a check ride. Then she’s a pure devil.” He should know, because he failed on his first check ride. On another occasion when she asked him to execute a stall and recovery on a Beech Debonair, he demurred, saying the plane wasn’t designed for stalling. She declared that if they didn’t do the stalls, he couldn’t get his private pilot’s licence. He raised no further objection.

Indeed, check rides were a passion with Evelyn. In all, she gave over 9,000 check rides, more than any other examiner. A diligent examiner who took her job seriously, Evelyn was critical of some younger instructors saying, “A lot of them are just doing it to build time.” She also felt that some of them did not teach their students basic map reading and radio navigation. Others were reluctant to train their pupils on stalling a plane and practising good rudder control.

Evelyn Bryan Johnson died on May 10, 2012, at the age of 102. Despite the colossal flying experience, she never wrecked an aircraft. She did experience two engine failures, fire in the air and other problems, but handled every emergency with great aplomb. Among numerous honours and awards, she was inducted into the “Women in Aviation Pioneers Hall of Fame”, the Tennessee and Kentucky aviation halls of fame and others. She was also awarded a bronze Carnegie Medal for rescuing a helicopter pilot after he crashed.