Girls in Aviation Day 2019 Reaches 20,000 Attendees

Women in Aviation International’s (WAI) October 5 Girls in Aviation Day 2019 reached approximately 20,000 attendees. An international event, Girls in Aviation Day was celebrated not just in the United States but in 17 other countries in Canada and Australia as well as countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Girls were introduced to the career and lifestyle possibilities in aviation and aerospace through meeting role models, career panels, exploring airplanes and airports, and a host of hands-on, fun activities ranging from a sectional chart treasure hunt to making jewelry using A&P tools.

“Our primary goal is to introduce girls ages 8 to 17 to allthe career opportunities aviation and aerospace offer,” says WAI OutreachDirector Molly Martin. “We go beyond piloting careers to include air trafficcontrollers, mechanics, engineers, technicians and designers. In fact, one girltold me that she now wants to design aircraft interiors as her career. That’s acareer she would never have even known of, much less considered, without Girlsin Aviation Day.”

Interacting with young people typically nets bluntquestions, and so it was with Girls in Aviation Day. One girl, hearing about acareer in air traffic control, asked the controller, “If the airplane crashes,do you lose your job?” In calm, controller fashion, she replied, “We work veryhard to make sure that doesn’t happen.” Another girl asked the pilot/rolemodel, “Why do pilots say ‘mayday?’ You should just say, ‘Hello, I’mcrashing.’“  Standing in front of acorporate jet, the adult asked a group of girls, “Who knows what makes anairplane fly?” and a girl tentatively guessed, “Money?”…probably from a girlwith aviation in her family.

Speaking about the WAI Cleveland Chapter event she attended,Martin added, “I’m in awe of this new generation of aviation hopefuls who werewide-eyed when the medevac helicopter landed and the female crew emerged fromthe aircraft; asked great questions of female professionals from NASA and FAAand others on the career panel; groaned in frustration as they crashed theirflight simulator into the trees on the side of the runway and then whooped withjoy when they greased their landing on their next try.” She concluded, “Youonly have to attend a Girls in Aviation Day event to know that this is making adifference.”

The next Girls in Aviation Day will be held on Saturday,March 7, 2020, in conjunction with the International Women in AviationConference at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.The international Girls in Aviation Day 2020 is planned for Saturday, September26, 2020.