The child of French Canadian immigrants, Mathilde Moisant (1878 – 1964) was born in Indiana, USA.
Her brothers, John and Alfred were aviators. Moisant learned to fly at her brothers’ flight school – Moisant Aviation School – in Long Island, NY. She earned her pilot licence on August 17, 1911, just a couple of weeks after her friend Harriet Quimby did. She was the 9th woman in the world (2nd in the United States) to earn a pilot licence.
She pursued a career in exhibition flying and set an altitude record. After a serious crash in 1912, she stopped flying.