Linda Pauwels (born 1963) is the First Latina Captain at American Airlines. She is also the youngest woman jet captain (cargo) at age 25 on a Boeing 707, in 1988. Pauwels was born Linda Pfeiffer in San Pedro, Buenos Aires, she has been married to Frederick Pauwels, airline pilot, since 1981, and has two children.

She graduated from Miami Dade College’s North Campus at age 22 in 1985 and was inducted into the MDC Hall of Fame in 2005. She was a columnist for the Orange County Register and has published two books, Beyond Haiku: Pilots Write Poetry, and Beyond Haiku: Women Pilots Write Poetry, which features never-before published poems by Amelia Earhart.

In celebration of International Women’s Day of 2021, American Airlines operated a flight with an all-female crew both on the plane and the ground from Miami to Dallas-Fort Worth. Linda Pauwels led the flight crew.