"What's Great About Aviation Is It Is Open To Women"

by ANN Correspondent Maxine Scheer

Friday was an historic day at AirVenture. The largest gathering of women aviators in history gathered in AeroShell Square, many of them wearing commemorative pink T-Shirts, appropriately titled, Women Soar. EAA and Women in Aviation, Intl. (WAI), organized the event where hundreds of women aviators of all ages and from all over the world, gathered to show their unending enthusiasm for aviation. All week, WAI has been registering the women in a special log book at the WAI booth at AirVenture.

In honor of this historic event ANN sat with Dr. Peggy Chabrian, President and Founder of Women in Aviation, Intl. to talk about the status of women in aviation and the secrets to the success of an organization that puts on a first-class aviation conferences, publishes a monthly magazine, maintains chapters throughout North America, and sets the bar by having raised over $5.7 million in scholarships since the organization was founded in 1995.

Peggy estimates that women currently represent about 6% of the US pilot population, a figure that has remained fairly flat for many years. "The encouraging news is that the percentage of women who are student pilots has increased to 11% and the number of women ATPs is about 4.7% up from one pilot back in 1973. More and more women are pursuing military aviation careers in all branches of the military, and it's notable that the last FAA Administrators of FAA have been women (Jane Garvey and Marion Blakey)."

"What's great about aviation is it is open to women. We try to promote a really positive and inclusive attitude amongst our members and their mentees. The challenge (to increasing the number of women in the industry) is with parents, educators, and guidance counselors," says Peggy, "and getting them to see aviation as a possibility for their daughters and students."

In 2008, WAI held their annual conference in San Diego and was able to raise nearly $700,000, for approximately 50 scholarships, funding all types of aviation-related educational pursuits that include professional development, pilot training, type ratings and undergraduate and graduate education. "Rather than the typical trade show, the WAI exhibit hall is more of a recruiting effort," said Peggy. "Our corporate sponsors tell us that WAI events attract the cream of the crop".

WAI encourages students to come to the conference and really learn how to network, and volunteer for activities that show that they're as interested in giving as well as pursuing jobs or scholarships. "It's a very collaborative environment at WAI," said Peggy. She recalled a story about Nicole Malachowski, the first woman Thunderbird pilot who spoke at WAI's 2007 conference. Unbeknownst to Peggy, Nicole pulled out a picture of her and Wally Funk at a WAI event a few years prior. "Nicole described to the audience how it was meeting Wally at WAI that was the turning point for her pursuing an aviation career with the Air Force."

"WAI is a great organization and this was a fantastic turnout, said Keith Sawyer, General Manager for General Aviation (GA) at Chevron. ANN met up with Keith at WAI's Celebrity breakfast this morning at AirVenture, an event that Chevron happily sponsors. "Our GA group at Chevron is about 600 people world-wide and about a third are women", said Keith, "including our Chief Corporate Pilot, Betty [Uhrig]."

"We always send a contingent to WAI," added Keith, "and encourage women to consider the wide range of aviation careers we have at Chevron."

"If wishes were free," and she could have a blank check to do what she wanted, what would WAI's President and Founder do? "That's a tough one," she replies. "I'd probably build a WAI Hall of Fame Museum, hire more staff to expand outreach, raise more scholarships, and expand programs like WAI's Girl Scout Merit Badge program. We'd also probably have more educational products." She asked for more time think about it and said she'd get back to us.

The next WAI conference will be held in Atlanta, February 26-28, 2009. New scholarships are already pouring in, along with great events sponsored by Delta, AirTran, and the US Air Force.

If you are a woman pilot and weren't able to make it to AirVenture, go to WAI's website today and sign the log book. Become a part of women's aviation history and look at WAI -- it's a great organization.

FMI: www.wai.org