Funeral flyover honors pioneering pilot

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Planes flew low today to honor a woman who made it her mission to fly high.

Anna Pennington died Monday at the age of 91.

Today family and friends celebrated her life in a special way. They say the flyover at her funeral is exactly what she would have wanted. They say she was watching from above.

“She was a remarkable woman,” grandson James Pennington said. “She was the third woman in North Carolina to get her pilot’s license. She started at 16. She was a gracious, calm person throughout her life.”

Anna Pennington made her first solo flight in 1939 just weeks after graduating New Hanover High School.