Ada Rogato (22 December 1910 – 15 November 1986) was a pioneering woman aviator from Brazil. She broke five records, becoming the first South American woman to earn a glider pilot's license and the first Brazilian woman to earn paratrooper certification. She broke the world record for the longest solo flight, was the first to fly across all three of the Americas and held the Brazilian record for the number of parachute jumps. She was also Brazil's first woman agricultural pilot, flying crop dusters for the Biological Institute to eliminate pests which were destroying the country's coffee crop.
Early life
Ada Rogato was born on 22 December 1910 in São Paulo, Brazil to Maria Rosa (née Greco) and Guglielmo Rogato. Her parents were immigrants from San Marco Argentano, Italy. Her education was typical for girls of her era, minimal schooling, learning painting and taking piano lessons. From a young age, Rogato wanted to learn to fly, but when her parents separated, she had to help her mother by doing domestic work and selling embroideries and handicrafts to make ends meet. Saving her earnings, she was able to secure enough money to take flying classes at the Flying Club of São Paulo and earn her class "C" glider pilot's license in 1935, becoming the first Brazilian and first South American woman glider pilot.
In 1936, Rogato took additional lessons and passed her testing to become an airplane pilot, flying various types of American-made planes, as well as Brazilian-made planes like the Muniz M-7, Muniz M-9, among others. She was the third licensed airplane pilot of Brazil, following Teresa De Marzo and Anésia Pinheiro Machado. She flew as a test pilot for light aircraft built in Brazil and begin flying in air shows. Needing to earn a living, she took a typing course and applied to enter the civil service.
Career
In 1940, Rogato began working as a secretary at the Biological Institute, replacing the previous temporary secretary. She took a course on library science to improve her skill and asked to be allowed leave to continue her participation in "Wing Week" activities. The following year, Rogato took a skydiving course, gaining the first Brazilian paratrooper certification and bought a Paulistinha two-seater airplane. Upon receipt of her paratrooper certification, the Aeronautics Ministry asked for Rogato to be allowed a three-month leave to offer training at the Technical School of Aviation. During World War II, she performed volunteer missions, patrolling the Litoral Paulista (coast of São Paulo). For her service, she became the first woman to receive the title of Pilot in Honoris Causa by the Brazilian Air Force. In 1942, Rogato performed a daring night parachute jump. She was the only woman and was accompanied by five men, who jumped from a Focke-Wulf plane into the bay off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The president, Getúlio Vargas was on hand to witness the jump and the parachutists rescue by the two boats waiting at the ready.
When Rogato returned to the Biological Institute, she was assigned to the Animal Health Surveillance Section, which led to their recruitment for her to serve as the first woman agricultural pilot in 1948. As she had accumulated over 1,200 flying hours, the Institute hired her to spray insecticide in an effort to eliminate the plague of borer beetles which were damaging the country's coffee crop. She worked as a crop duster, spraying the insecticide Gamexame (hexachloro- cyclohexane), while wearing protective gear. The insecticide was later banned as a health hazard, but not before Rogato had her only serious accident, when a malfunction of the spraying apparatus caused her to crash. Rogato was hospitalized for a month and it was later speculated that the exposure to the chemicals may have led to her development of cancer. After her recuperation, Rogato returned to crop-dusting.