After C.E. Woolman, on the short list of celebrated employees in Delta's history, sits the name Pat “Mother” Malone.

Patricia Malone was born on July 4th, 1924, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She received her initial aviation training through Navy and Air Force programs, and in 1944, was hired by US Navy Waves (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).

Photo Credit: Mark McDonald

With the Waves she trained squadron pilots as a Link Instrument Procedures Instructor and even kept a detailed pilot’s log book of her students.

After World War 2 she worked for multiple commercial airlines as a Link Trainer Instructor before landing at Northeast Airlines in 1960 to operate their Curtiss Wright Dehmel Instrument Procedures Trainer. She then joined Delta from Northeast Airlines during the 1972 merger as an Operations Specification Instructor in the Pilot Ground Training Department

After three decades of service, Pat retired from Delta in 1994, and was later inducted into the Women in Aviation International, Pioneer Hall of Fame and the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. It is said that she earned the nickname of “Mother” Malone because she loved to teach and even referred to her students as “my pilots,”saying “Every white hair on my head is a stripe on some pilot’s sleeve somewhere in the world.” C.E. Woolman, Delta’s principal founder and first CEO, said “Quality begins with people,” a statement that Pat Malone embodied perfectly. 

Mother Malone with Boeing 767 The Spirit of Delta when it arrived home to the Delta Flight Museum in 2006. Photo Credit: Winston Whitlock

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