Interviewer(s): D. Austin. Patterson, LA

Affiliation: University of Arizona

I arrived at Perry Flying Service to interview Val Mullen, and Val told me that Sharon Moore, one of the few female helicopter pilots working in the Gulf, happened to be in because no flights were going offshore due to fog. She said that she would trade her interview time so I would get the chance to talk with Sharon. Sharon agreed to be interviewed, and she and I went into Val's office to talk.

Sharon was raised near Dallas, TX, not far from Love Field, and got to know many pilots and stewardesses when she was growing up. She joined the National Guard after high school and remained there for 13 years. In 1990, she began flying civilian helicopters where she worked in the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, and the Grand Canyon before taking a job with TexAir Helicopters in the Gulf of Mexico in 1996.