The Flight of Jackie Cochran, 43min., USA
Directed by Jessica Anderson
The Flight of Jackie Cochran tells the story of the most famous pilot you’ve never heard of—a woman who shattered aviation records, broke the sound barrier, and helped change the course of history, only to be largely forgotten by it.

http://jackiecochranfilm.com/
https://www.instagram.com/flightofjackiecochran

https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-the-flight-of-jackie-cochran

Director Statement
When I first set out to make The Flight of Jackie Cochran, I thought I was telling the story of a record-breaking pilot, a woman who held more aviation records than anyone in history. But what I found was something far more powerful: a story of invention, reinvention, and resilience.

Jackie Cochran came from almost nothing. For years, her early life was shrouded in myth by stories she told, stories others repeated, but few verified. In this documentary, we peel back the layers of those myths to uncover the reality: a childhood marked by poverty, loss, and self-reliance. She wasn’t born with privilege or pedigree. She built herself from the ground up, changing her name, her narrative, and ultimately, the very sky she flew through.

What astonished me most was how fiercely she navigated a world that had no blueprint for women like her. At a time when women were just beginning to push into aviation, Jackie didn’t just join the field—she dominated it. And yet, despite her unmatched achievements, she remains largely unknown outside aviation circles. Why?

This film doesn’t just recount her victories; it interrogates her ambition, her contradictions, and the cost of choosing legacy over likability. Through newly uncovered archives, interviews with historians, and people who knew her, we reveal the untold depths of Jackie’s origin story and her unrelenting fight to matter in a world that wasn’t built for her.

The Flight of Jackie Cochran is a documentary about a woman who flew faster than the speed of sound—and who lived a life that defied gravity in every sense of the word. Her story is one of grit, audacity, and flight—not just through air, but through adversity.

— Jessica Anderson
Director, The Flight of Jackie Cochran: A Documentary