Carmen Cañas

A groundbreaking Colombian aviator who became Latin America's first female stunt pilot and advocated for women in aviation.

Carmen Cañas (1912–1998) shattered gender barriers as Colombia's first female stunt pilot. Born in Bogotá, she began flying at age 16 and earned her license in 1930, becoming the youngest licensed pilot in South America. She performed death-defying aerial stunts like loop-the-loops and wing-walking, which were nearly exclusively male-dominated. Her 1935 trans-Andes flight from Colombia to Venezuela set altitude records and inspired Latin American women to pursue aviation.

Cañas co-founded the Colombian Women's Aviation Club in 1942 to train female pilots. Her memoir 《Wings of Freedom》 details her struggles against sexism in aviation. She also pioneered crop-dusting techniques in agricultural aviation, revolutionizing farming in Colombia's coffee regions. The Colombian Air Force honored her with a permanent exhibit at their museum in 2005, and her legacy lives on in the annual Carmen Cañas Women's Aviation Competition.