Candi Kubeck

Candalyn Kubeck (May 10, 1961–May 11, 1996) was the first female commercial airline captain. She was also captain of ValuJet Flight 592, which crashed in the Everglades after oxygen generators improperly placed in a cargo hold started and maintained a fire that disrupted aircraft functionality and flooded the entire cabin and cockpit with smoke. As the fire raged in the cargo hold it started to melt away the control cables that run to the rear of the plane. She soon lost control of the aircraft while it was making a left turn back to Miami and she and the crew and passengers onboard were overcome by smoke inhalation just seconds before the crash. The DC-9 went into a nosedive and plummeted into the Everglades and upon impact the aircraft shattered into pieces killing her and everyone onboard instantly. It is not known if the remains of her body were ever found. The crash made Kubeck the first female captain to die in a commercial airline crash. ^[1]

Candalyn Chamberlain was born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, on May 10, 1961. She grew up in the San Diego area and started flying lessons while in high school. Kubeck went to Palomar College in San Marcos where she was a member of the flight team. Kubeck transferred to Metro State College in Denver, Colorado, where she earned her bachelor's degree in Aviation Studies in 1982. While at Metro she flew on the college flight team and was named Top Woman Pilot at the National Intercollegiate Flying Association's national meeting in 1981. The award has since been named after her.^[2] She also earned a Ninety-Nines Amelia Earhart Memorial Flight Scholarship in 1983 and got to meet Amelia's sister, Muriel.

She married Roger Kubeck on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California in September 1987.

Kubeck had many jobs in the aviation field: flight instructor, air traffic control specialist, freight pilot, commuter airline captain, and finally captain for ValuJet Airlines.

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