Captain Nechama Spiegel pushed back from Larnaca International Airport Wednesday morning with a plane full of stranded Israelis, marking both El Al’s first repatriation flight since direct war between Israel and Iran broke out, and another milestone in her own groundbreaking career.

The flight to Ben Gurion Airport was part of the Ministry of Transportation’s plan to bring home atranded Israelis whose flights were canceled during Israel’s direct war with Iran. But for the passengers aboard, their captain represented something unprecedented in Israeli aviation.

Spiegel, a mother of seven from Beit Shemesh, has been quietly making history at El Al since completing the airline’s rigorous training program. The 30-something pilot grew up in Jerusalem’s Beit Yaakov school system, where aviation careers aren’t exactly on the curriculum.

At 20, Spiegel caught the aviation bug and started taking flight lessons in the United States. Unlike most Israeli pilots who log their hours in the Air Force, she had to find another path. Every year, she flew back to America to build up the flight time El Al required for admission to its pilot program.

The religious restrictions she observes, including shomer negiah, which prohibits physical contact between men and women, added another layer of complexity to working in the traditionally male-dominated cockpit environment. But that wouldn’t stop her from pursuing her dreams, and she continued her years of accumulating hours and meeting requirements while proudly maintaining her religious observance until El Al accepted her in 2015.

Eventually earning her captain’s stripes, in 2017, Spiegel made headlines when she piloted Prime Minister Netanyahu to a summit in Greece, marking the first time an Israeli prime minister had been flown by an ultra-Orthodox female pilot.

On Tuesday, El Al announced it will operate rescue flights from Larnaca, Athens, Rome, Milan, and Paris, prioritizing passengers based on their original cancellation dates and humanitarian cases. The flights will be carried out gradually, subject to state approvals, with passengers receiving direct notification from the company. Other Israeli airlines are carrying out similar reparation missions. Read full story here.