Ruth Maestre

In 1984, the Federal Aviation Administration hired Ruth as an Air Traffic Controller. During her career she spent 4 years as a Flight Service Station specialist in Ft. Wayne IN and Terre Haute IN. She has since the worked as a Certified Professional Controller at the Cincinnati Lunken VFR Tower, Dayton, Cleveland and Indianapolis Radar Approach Facilities. She currently serves the flying public as an Air Traffic Safety Inspector.

Ruth served the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) as NATCA facility representative at Dayton and the Great Lakes Regional Representative to the National Constitution Committee.

In 1988 and again in 1992 Ruth worked at Oshkosh as an air traffic controller during the airshow, which is billed as the largest air show in the world for number of aircraft in attendance.

Ruth received her private pilot certificate in 1992 and multi-engine qualification in 2001.

She is a charter member of Women in Aviation International. In 1996, she was honored as Volunteer of the Year at the annual Women in Aviation International Conference.

Ruth is a member of the International 99's, the Association of Women in Aviation Maintenance (AWAM), Professional Women Controllers (PWC), Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).

Ruth has been racing airplanes since 1995 and has achieved multiple top ten finishes. A win in 2000 of the Air Race Classic, an all-women's race, with Denise Waters, was her best finish. The course was 2,300 miles from Tucson, Arizona, to Hyannis, Massachusetts, with 45 participating teams. In 2001 Ruth, again flying with New York friend Denise Waters participated in and finished the London to Sydney air race. In this race they covered 12,000 miles, 5 continents, 18 countries in 28 days.