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Women in Aviation Worldwide Week 2014

Did you know this week, March 3 – 9 is Women of Aviation Worldwide week?

Every year, the Women in Aviation international hosts a week promoting aviation for women.

During this week, over 300,000 women are expected to participate in many of the aviation events encouraging them to consider aviation as a career, in order to improve the number of women in the industry. This global outreach worldwide week is organized by non-profit company the institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide (iWOAW), which aspires to improve gender balance in a very male-dominated air and aerospace technical industry.

So how unbalanced is it for women anyway?

While women represent half of the world’s population, in aviation the numbers are still pretty dire in terms of gender representation.  For example: less than 2% of aircraft maintenance engineers are women, less than 5% of airline pilots are women, and less than 10% of aerospace engineers are women.

Raymonde de Laroche, first licensed female pilot.
Raymonde de Laroche, first licensed female pilot.

The annual week long event this March is an international week of awareness which celebrates women in aviation.  It’s always held at the same week of the year, around March 8 because on March 8, 1910, a pilots license was issued to a female for the first time – to Raymonde de Laroche.

Females around the world are invited to visit their local flight school to learn more about flying and aviation.   Many flight schools are hosting free “first flights” for women.  Check your local flight school if they have any promotions.

We had a look at what events were registered for our area. Sadly, there are none in Alberta where we are located but there are events in B.C., Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. Lots of great events in these provinces – see if there is one near you.   In the U.S., there are activities in 18 states. See what’s happening in your state.

Women of Aviation Worldwide Week - This cool image is from iWOAW.org
Women of Aviation Worldwide Week – This cool image is from iWOAW.org

 Fly it Forward

Aviators around the world are encouraged to “fly it forward” by introducing a woman or girl to the world of aviation.  This could be taking them up for their first flight, for example, so that they can experience flight and know that the field is open to pursue it as a career.

The organization also presents awards to the organization, flight school, airport, pilot, instructor or other supporter who help in this endeavor. The weekly awards include:

Most female friendly airport: introduces most non pilot females to aviation during the week;

Most female friendly flight training centre: introduces the most non-pilot females to aviation during the week;

Most dedicated female pilot: woman pilot who introduces the most female non-pilots to aviation during the week; and

Most supportive male pilot: male pilot, non-instructor, who introduces the most female non-pilots to aviation during the week.

Last year, Canadian Waterloo-Wellingon Flight Centre was recognized as the most female pilot friendly training centre worldwide. This is thanks to their hard work promoting this important event.  This flight school is hosting many events during the week – including a fly in on March 8.  Check out their many exciting events.

There are some great challenges that are being held – one is an art contest, and there is also a first to solo challenge. The latter requires prompt action after the week and will go to the female who solos first after having discovered aviation during this week. This includes a prize of $1500! Pretty cool.

Check out the website for women of aviation worldwide week and for the institute for women of aviation worldwide.

Thank you so much to Women of Aviation Worldwide for organizing this amazing event year after year, and to all the businesses for participating and promoting aviation for women!

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My first training flight

Pre flight check on a Cesna 172

My first training flight …

Having selected the flight school I wanted to learn at, I went on my first flight   (Ok – well, my second flight – I was already up in a Diamond once during my discovery flight!)

My first flight at Centennial with my instructor finally happened in early May after over a month of cancellations.  Weather cancellations were eventually going to be the bane of my existence for some time, to the point where I thought I must have some kind of bad luck!

It was the evening of Friday, May 7. We met at 6pm.  First, I learned how to taxi and found how sensitive the rudder pedal is to taxi the aircraft on the ground.  I was confused with all the different checklists and procedures – we did one before we left the school, and another 3 or 4 – I was completely lost.

Eventually, she lined us up on the runway, told me to hold the control column with one hand and the throttle in the other.  I was very nervous.  She asked me to push the throttle all the way in – which I did extremely slowly because I was so nervous.  Eventually she threw it into full power and we waited. Not very long though: she asked me to pull up on the control column – and I did, slowly and cautiously again, which caused her to pull us up a bit more and finally get us off the ground.  Then she told me to hold it there as I climbed out for the first time off of runway 12, over downtown Edmonton.  The skyscrapers and apartment buildings were below us, and the North Saskatchewan river was snaking out in front of the nose of the aircraft. I could see the University of Alberta where I was currently attending graduate school.

In order to relax me my instructor asked me where I lived to see if we could fly over my house so I could see it from the air.  We flew west a little ways as I gripped the control column with a death grip.  She let me do a few turns and demonstrated how the rudder and aileron inputs work in flight, and then we made our descent then rejoined the circuit and made our approach back to CYXD.

After the flight, I was very wired and excited, and after I recovered from the anxiety, I knew flying was for me.  I loved the challenge.  It was going to be a big commitment though – not just financially, but the will to commit to learn and progress over time.  It was going to be a lot of work.  Working through fears. This feeling of euphoria from the first time I flew was to become a regular feeling I experienced after each flight – and was very addictive!

 

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