Crash Kills Sex-Changed Combat Pilot Karen Ulane
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DE KALB, Ill. — Karen Ulane, a decorated Vietnam combat pilot who was fired by Eastern Airlines after a sex-change operation in 1980, was killed in the crash of a World War II-vintage charter plane. She was 48.
Ulane, known until her surgery as Kenneth Ulane, was at the controls when the twin-propeller DC-3 owned by an air taxi and cargo service crashed and burned in a field near here Monday. Two others aboard were killed.
Ulane had a sex-change operation and hormone treatments in 1980 after 12 years with Eastern. The airline fired her, citing possible safety hazards in stressful situations. U.S. District Judge John F. Grady ordered reinstatement and $158,590 in back pay and other expenses in 1983. An appeals court disagreed and reversed the decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1985 let the appellate ruling stand.
Ulane eventually received a settlement from Eastern that was “substantially more” than the amount ordered by Grady, said her attorney, Dean Dickie.
Survivors include a son from a marriage while she was Kenneth Ulane.
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