Twenty years in the aisle. Twenty-four in the cockpit.

A career that took off twice

Jane grew up wanting the cockpit, in an era when women simply weren't pointed toward it. So she flew as a flight attendant instead, twenty years of it, including a stretch in the 1970s on Guam flying for Air Micronesia, a chapter she still calls the highlight of her career.

Then the airline went through a bankruptcy. Her pay was cut 60%. With one kid in college, one in high school, and one in junior high, Jane took her savings and enrolled in flying lessons anyway. Three years later, she was hired as a pilot, at the very airline she'd served drinks for.

She retired a B-737 Captain, after nearly 44 years with Continental and United combined. Plane Jane: Earning My Wings is her account of getting there, in her own words, on her own terms.