CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — After 38 years of flying out of O’Hare Airport, United Airlines Capt. Chris Bales will hang up his wings after his final flight arrives in Chicago Sunday night. Joining him in the cockpit: First Officer Ally Bales, his daughter.
Chris Bales and his daughter flew his penultimate flight from O’Hare Airport to Los Angeles International Airport. The return flight will mark the third and final time that the father-daughter pair have flown together.
Bales, who lives in Milwaukee, is retiring due to the federal age restrictions.
Ally Bales joined United in 2022 and is among the less than 10% of women who make up the country’s licensed airline pilots. United Airlines officials said the 33-year-old is emblematic of the airline’s push to make at least half of its pilots being women or people of color by 2030.
The Bales family has many connections to the airline, and five of Ally’s aunts and uncles are United pilots or flight attendants.
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