Defence Force / Te Ao Maori

Fran Ebbett, her path to captain an Air NZ jet

13:30 pm on 18 May 2024

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Fran Ebbett was just a schoolgirl when she started dreaming of becoming a pilot. She joined the navy out of high school and did a seven year stint including overseas deployments to places such as Bougainville. But after leaving the navy her desire to fly remained strong so she trained to become a pilot and eventually rose through the ranks to captain an Air New Zealand passenger jet, possibly the first Maori woman to do so.