[1] She was first officer on the first all-female crew for a scheduled commercial US carrier with Captain Emilie Jones, flying an Air Illinois, DHC-6 Twin Otter, 30 December 1977.
She was named a Woman of the Year in England (1984), inducted into the International Forest of Friendship by Betty Gillies, a WWII WASP and original 99; mentioned in Who's Who of American Women 1983–1984, and was featured in a BBC documentary, Reaching for the Skies Episode: 2 "The Adventure of Flight", now available on YouTube.
She attended University of Illinois to earn a teaching degree in English worked as a student teacher in a Chicago inner-city school.
Her interest in flying took hold when friends who were flight instructors offered lessons in a Piper J-3 Cub seaplane in Vermont.
She obtained her required certificates and training at Tamiami Airport in Miami where she worked as a flight instructor and charter pilot.
However, due to inclement weather and the inability of the designated flight crew to make it to the airport on December 30, 1977, Rippelmeyer and Captain Jones were permitted to fly the scheduled turboprop commuter plane under the condition that the passengers were not made aware the pilots were both women.
She became friends with some people in Roatan, who were creating and supporting health care clinics, schools, sports programs and an animal shelter.
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