"Caution! Moderate to severe clear air turbulence, due to wagging tongues; San Luis Obispo women pilots are organizing!"

—a quote taken from an article written by Wanda Strassburg in 1969.

October 1, 1969 date is the official Charter date for the San Luis Obispo County Ninety-Nines with 16 members of which Grace McChesney, Wanda Strassburg, Emily Cletsoway, and Criss Yecny are still members today. Formal chartering ceremony was held on January 17, 1970 at the Madonna Inn with a total of 20 ladies officially sworn in as charter members

Meetings were originally held on the second Wednesday of every month as luncheons at members homes, restaurants, or fly-outs to various locations; today we are holding dinner meetings at Wanda’s Aloft with dinner afterwards at the San Luis Obispo Spirit of San Luis Resturant at the Airport on the first Wednesday of the month. In 1980, the SLO Chapter hosted the Fall Section Meeting at Madonna Inn.

Numerous ladies went on to be airline pilots, among them being Patti Molina Gomez, Suzanne Skeeters, Tracey Leonard, Ester Grupenhagen, Jan Dungan; two ladies flew in the National Air Guard Reserves - Summer Fields and Shelley Funk; Peggy Myrick in the Civil Air Patrol; others in SLO Sheriff's Posse, Search and Rescue, Sheriffs Aero Squadron

Numerous ladies were involved in the government: Carol Hallett - California Assemblywoman; Shirley Moore - Atascadero City Planning Commissioner; Wanda Strasburg FAA Designee; June Cunningham - Morro Bay City Planning; also ladies with airport committees - Not to mention ladies with diverse careers as doctors, psychologists, nurses, commercial artist, school teacher; restaurateur, FBO owners, engineers etc.

The SLO Chapter has offered several scholarships in the past: Wil Neubert Scholarship; Wanda Ewing Scholarship; Nancy Eckrote Memorial Scholarship - all helped to fund the Flying Start Grant and the current Future Woman Pilot scholarship.

Members hold various licenses: Private; Commercial; Flight Instructor, Instrument Instructor, Commercial Instructor, Licensed Local Weather Observer; Commercial Agricultural Pilot; Charter Pilot, CFI, CFII.

The Chapter has hosted many fundraisers over the years: booths at airport days, SLO Derby Air Race, banquets featuring guest speakers; hot dog booths; ice cream carts; airplane wash; airplane rides at Good Neighbor Day and Airport Day and has also held a media day. The Chapter is very involved with air-marking the county airports, education, Direct Relief Flights; Flying Companion Seminar, sponsors FAA safety seminars. Also serves yearly "cookies to the tower", fire station, FBOs, during Christmas.

Some of our current activities include the Discovery Flight Program, SLO Photo Rally, Monthly Flyouts and Fund raising activities to support our Discovery Flight Program and our yearly Scholarship.

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