• The World's First Scheduled Airline
• The Post Office Begins Flying the Mail
• The Curtiss JN-4D Jenny
• Regularly Scheduled Air Mail Service Begins
• Air Mail Service Takes Root
• Flying the Mail at Night
• A Daring Demonstration
• How Did Air Mail Pilots Find Their Way?
  • Wild Bill
  • What Was It Like To Fly?
• Early Airlines
  • Who Flew?
• Early Aircraft Technology
  • Engine Technology: Water-Cooled Engines
• Airlines Take Over Carrying the Mail

Who Flew?

Mostly pilots. Most early airplanes could carry only a single extra person, if any. Few passenger-carrying airlines existed, and none survived for very long. Those that did catered to wealthy travelers who could afford the expensive ticket prices. Except for the occasional hop in the spare seat of a barnstorming Curtiss Jenny, few Americans flew as passengers.

National Air and Space Museum Archives	Interior of an Aeromarine Airways airliner. Note the wicker chairs.
Unknown	A female passenger in flying coveralls stands in the cockpit of the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line's Benoist airplane, perhaps discussing her flight with the photographer standing in front of her.