Karen Ulane
American aviator
Karen Frances Ulane (December 10, 1941 – May 22, 1989) was an American airline pilot who was dismissed by Eastern Airlines after undergoing sex reassignment surgery in 1980. The case Ulane v. Eastern Airlines became the federal legal precedent for transsexual legal status under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Life and career
Ulane was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep. Ulane joined the United States Army and flew combat missions in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968, then became a pilot for Eastern Airlines. Following employment with Eastern Airlines, Ulane transitioned and changed her legal name in April 1980.
T.R. Buttion, the Senior Vice President of Flight Operations presented her with a letter of termination on April 24, 1981, that read, "It is our belief that the controversial nature of the operation you have undergone will detract from and prevent any flight crew of which you are a part of from operating in the integrated, coordinated fashion that is necessary to attain the highest degree of safety." The letter also noted that other Eastern pilots would refuse to fly with her.
Ulane filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which resulted in the civil case, Ulane v. Eastern Airlines.
“Karen Ulane” enters the record as american aviator. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Karen, Ulane and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Karen Ulane” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Karen, Ulane and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6370099. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1941, 1989, 1980 and 1964.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Karen Ulane”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Karen Ulane primary sources, Karen Ulane archive and Karen research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Karen Ulane”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Karen Ulane” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.