Joann Osterud (November 14, 1945 - March 12, 2017) was an American pilot who flew for commercial airlines as well as stunt performances.
[8][9] She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and wrote her senior thesis on science and public policy, but discovered a love of physics late in college while working on the installation of the Reed reactor, and was one of the original students licensed to operate it.
Osterud also briefly attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working on a graduate degree in science and public policy, but was disappointed with the school and left after one year.
[10] Osterud started taking flying lessons in 1968 from a female instructor at Hillsboro Airport, just outside Portland, Oregon, and earned her pilot's license while at MIT as a grad student.
[9][11] She worked briefly as a flight instructor for Bell Air Service in Seattle, before being hired as both a secretary and pilot for Lynden Transport in Alaska.
Her research was key to finding the elusive cause of an error in VOR station propagation which resulted in the aircraft descending into terrain.
[11][19] At an airshow on July 13, 1989 in North Bend, Oregon, Osterud set her first world flight record, flying 208 outside loops in her Sorrell Biplane Supernova.
Stenzel commented to Sports Illustrated, "I believed it was well past time the record was broken… She's a smooth flyer and I didn't think she'd tear her wings off.
Osterud also used the record-breaking stunt to raise money for United Way of Southeastern Oregon, allowing people to sponsor individual loops.
Burcham flew 4 hours, 5 minutes, 22 seconds flying upside down from Long Beach to San Diego and back in a Boeing 100 where he had inverted the engine.
During the record-setting flight, she was accompanied by five other planes, including an official observer from the Canadian Federation Aeronautique Internationale and another to navigate for her.
[24][25] According to the NTSB accident report, Osterud had personally chosen the location for the poles and ribbon, which was just to the south of the runway over old asphalt and concrete.
The NTSB inspector found no mechanical or engine problems with the plane and cited "the pilot's failure to maintain adequate vertical clearance from the runway, while flying inverted" as well as "the light conditions at dusk, and the pilot's lack of visual ques [sic] due to the light conditions" as factors relating to the accident.