She smashed her first record before even taking a flight to Australia

With a Bachelor of Arts in economics, she then worked in London as William Charles Crocker's secretary. Johnson decided to learn how to fly because she was bored with her office work. At the time, flying was still a relatively new hobby for most individuals, much alone women. In 1929, she earned both an aviation certificate and a pilot's license, which is one of the interesting facts about Amy Jonhson. She remembers how difficult it was to learn to fly and acknowledges that it was a terrifying experience because her first teacher was not very understanding.

She first learned to fly for fun on January 28, 1929, when she earned her aviator's certificate, No. 8662, and her pilot's "A" license, No. 1979, on July 6, 1929, both at the London Aeroplane Club under Captain Valentine Baker's instruction. She attained a ground engineer's "C" license that same year, making history as the first British woman to do so. Fred Slingsby, whose Yorkshire-based firm, Slingsby Aviation of Kirbymoorside, North Yorkshire, rose to become the most well-known glider maker in the UK, was friends with and a colleague of Johnson. At Sutton Bank, Slingsby assisted in founding the Yorkshire Gliding Club, and throughout the 1930s she was a pioneering member and trainee.