Isabel Rilvas

Isabel Manuela Teixeira Bandeira de Melo (8 January 1935 – 14 September 2025), also known as Isabel Rilvas, was a Portuguese acrobatic pilot, known for being the first female parachutist in Portugal and the inspiration for the creation of the Portuguese Paratroop Nurses. She was the first acrobatic pilot in the Iberian Peninsula, broke the Portuguese record for flight without an engine, and was the first Portuguese person to obtain a hot-air balloon license.

Early life Rilvas was born on 8 January 1935, in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. She was the daughter of the Count of Rilvas, hence the surname by which she became known.

Rilvas became the first acrobatic pilot in the Iberian Peninsula and, in 1955, only the second Portuguese woman to obtain a C licence that allowed her to fly gliders. As an acrobatic pilot she entered several competitions at Sintra and Figueira da Foz, piloting various makes of planes including a Cessna, the Tiger Moth, and the Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser. She won competitions in 1958 and 1960.

In order to maintain her licences, Rilvas had to complete a specific number of jumps, but was faced with the lack of places where it was possible to do so in Portugal. For this reason, she asked the Portuguese Air Force to authorize her to jump at the Tancos military base, where the Paratroopers' Regiment was based. On 16 January 1957 she was the first civilian to jump at Tancos. She was also the first person to jump in Luanda in Angola and in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) in Mozambique. She had celebrated her 90th birthday in January of that year with a skydive, together with an instructor.

Awards 1994: Rilvas was made a Dame of the Order of Malta. 2000: A plaque with her name was placed on the Wall of Wings of the 99s Museum of Women Pilots, in Oklahoma City (USA). 2002: Rilvas was made a Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Saint Isabel. 2014: She was decorated by the Portuguese Air Force with the First-Class Aeronautical Merit Medal. 2017: Rilvas was awarded the rank of Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry of Portugal.