Born in Atchison, Kansas, Earhart learned to fly at age 23, and used that skill to set numerous aviation records. Her last flight, in 1937, was part of an attempt to circle the world at the equator. She disappeared into the Pacific Ocean after taking off from New Guinea in her Lockheed Electra. Amelia Earhart dedicated her life to the promotion of aviation. She was the first president of the Ninety-Nines, an international organization of women pilots chartered in 1929. She was the first woman to fly solo across the continent in 1929, and across the Pacific from Hawaii to California in 1935. She was also the first woman pilot to reach an altitude of 14,000 feet, and in 1937 set the speed record from Oakland, California to Honolulu, Hawaii.