Look Out Texas, The Ladies Who Love Taildraggers Are Headed Your Way!

Join the ladies of LadiesLoveTaildraggers for their 6th annual fly-in May 29 through 31. This year they are visiting the Lone Star State and will be converging on the Sulphur Springs Texas Airport (KSLR) for a fun taildraggin' 4-day weekend. True to their name, they will be celebrating aircraft with the tiny wheel on the back and the ladies who fly them. ALL women pilots, nose-wheel and tailwheel, are invited!

The organization, LadiesLoveTaildraggers, may be the new kid on the block when it comes to women’s flying organizations, but their membership numbers are quickly growing. The group was started 6 short years ago by Judy Birchler of Indianapolis, IN with the purpose of meeting and connecting other like-minded ladies who love to fly taildraggers. Birchler says, "I've always been passionate about flying taildraggers but I just couldn't seem to find other ladies in my area who felt like I did. I knew I couldn't be the only woman around tagging along with the taildragger guys, flying to breakfast or lunch and to local fly-ins. I loved to fly with them but always wished I knew other taildragging gals to invite."

The on-line aviation community has grown to over 500 members based around the world. Their numbers are tiny when compared to organizations like the Ninety-Nines and Women In Aviation, but it’s a respectable membership for such a small niche market. With women comprising only 7% of the U.S. pilot population, and of that number a very small percentage flying taildraggers, they are indeed a rare breed of pilots.

The LadiesLoveTaildraggers website is chocked full of pictures, a live feed from the Facebook LadiesLoveTaildraggers Group, and each new member’s "pilot profile"; information and pictures about themselves provided by the new member. Members are free to share as much or as little as they like but must submit a minimum of one picture with their membership application. Each woman's personal story is a testament to her passion and love of taildraggers and the pictures are reinforcement of the fun that await those who fly them. Each member and their pictures are an inspiration to women everywhere who may be considering flying a taildragger.

The Mission Statement of LadiesLoveTaildraggers isn't complicated and it reads as follows: "To encourage women everywhere to have fun flying taildraggers".

This organization isn’t about ratings, number of hours in the logbook or owning an award winning airplane. It is about flying taildraggers just for the fun of it. It's about introducing ladies to aviation and encouraging women, and men as well, to join the wonderful world of conventional gear aircraft.

FMI: www.LadiesLoveTaildraggers.com