Join us for our Monthly Meetings!

Meetings: First Thursday of the Month. Locations vary, contact us for the most up to date information. 

Geographic Area: Kansas City downtown and its surrounding suburbs.

Greater KC 99s Tour Whiteman AFB – Aug 2023
Greater Kansas City Chapter Officers
About our Chapter

The Missouri Chapter of the 99s formed in 1940 with 10 charter members. The Chapter was chartered as the Western Missouri Chapter on October 23, 1941, with 18 members.  During WWII, no meetings were held. In 1945 the Chapter meetings were resumed. The Chapter was renamed the Greater Kansas City Chapter in 1947. The Greater Kansas City Chapter became a Missouri Corporation in 1967.

​As Ninety-Nines we speak to those interested in careers in aviation and sponsor pilot educational seminars for the Federal Aviation Administration.

Our Chapter encourages and promotes aviation activities including introducing youth (Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and any interested youth) to the world of aviation. Sponsoring charitable, educational, and training projects involving the use of general aviation aircraft. The GKC 99s offer scholarships to women and girls interested in furthering their ratings and flying capabilities.

Our members range from student pilots to military bomber pilots with a variety of airline pilots, corporate pilots, race pilots (and winners) and instructors. We were honored to have a Mercury 13 astronaut as one of our active members. We are women who like to fly.

Sarah Ratley – Mercury 13 Astronaut

Born on October 30, 1931 in Kansas, Sarah Gorelick learned to fly in 1949 and raced in the Powder Puff Derby and toured with The Ninety-Nines. She graduated from the University of Denver with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, minoring in physics, chemistry and aeronautics, then worked as an engineer at AT&T.

​Sarah joined The Ninety-Nines, Greater Kansas City Chapter, and has been a continuous and active member since January 25, 1951.

​In 1961, Sarah was chosen for NASA’s first Woman in Space Program. Titled Mercury 13, the program grew out of two researchers’ interest in women’s capabilities for spaceflight based on their small size and light weight. These women were put through intensive fitness and endurance tests, and all passed. However, one day before the women were to report for their next phase of examinations, the program was scrapped due to the prejudices of the times.

Educationally, she was as qualified as any Mercury 7 Astronaut. At 27 and single, she held a Commercial Pilots license with Airplane Single and Multi-Engine Land ratings, Single Engine Sea, Instrument, Rotor and Glider, CFI and CFII ratings.

After Mercury 13, Gorelick became an accountant with the Internal Revenue Service and in 2007 received an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Wisconsin.

  • June 2020 Meeting