Rose Loper grew up as a free-spirited girl in small-town America and became the first woman to graduate with honors from the US Army Flight School at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and the first female pilot at Boeing. Loper was hired in 1980 as a ground operations engineer on the 767 Flight Test program, and in 1983 she accepted the position of chief corporate helicopter pilot—at the same time she maintained a parallel career in the US Army Reserve, retiring as a brigadier general. Earning a type rating in the 737, 747, 757, and 777 helped her fulfill the sense of adventure and desire to travel that she had as a child. She was the first woman to land a large commercial aircraft in Taiwan and the first to fly a 757 to Siberia to certify cold-weather starting capability. Loper loved her job at Boeing and said that its greatest appeal was the joy of being in control of something flying through the air.