Diana Rittenhouse:  

Life After graduation I relocated to Santa Barbara where I live for 10 years. I graduated with a degree in Criminal Justice and obtained a position as deputy sheriff for Ventura County. In the Police Academy I was voted "Female most likely to be your backup!" I became captain of the pistol team traveling throughout California shooting competively. In 1977 at the Police Olympics I competed against 3,000 fellow police officers in Santa Ana and won the bronze medal for target shooting. Oh, yeah! And another bronze in the ladies tennis competion. A girl has to do something to keep herself entertained! In 1980 I left the field of law enforcement and began a new career in the field of aviation. In a period of approx. 3 months I had obtained my flight ratings which included Private, Instrument, Commercial and Flight Instructor. I began working as a flight instructor in the Imperial Valley, but was offered a job in Visalia to instruct Japanese students and do charter flights as well. This lead to another offer to fly for ConAir, transporting prisoners throughout the United States in Navajo Chieftains for various law enforcement agencies. I was the only female pilot in the company, and handled a hijacking and shootout incident in 1984 when a prisoner being returned to Rock Springs, Wyoming for murder charges attempted to take over the aircraft and use me as a hostage by putting his waist chains around my neck. Grabbing my partners Smith and Wesson put a successful end to that situation . . he'll remember me every time he smiles! Once I achieved 1500 hours of flight time I was able to leave ConAir an...Expand for more