New Scholarships For 2014 And National Aviation Hall Of Fame Award

By Maxine Scheer

WAI President Dr. Peggy Chabrian brought a number of new announcements to the WAI news conference held Thursday morning at AirVenture 2013, including nine new scholarships adding $16,850 to support different types of needs identified for women pursuing aviation, for both careers and personal interests. "It is great that donors have listened to what other kinds of needs there are for women interested in aviation," said Chabrian. New scholarships for women pursuing a private pilot certificate, A&P certificate, and two scholarships from United Airlines for a multi-engine rating or CFI certificate were amongst the nine on the list. To date, there are 78 scholarships for many purposes and age ranges, available through WAI, currently valued at $358,000. More scholarships are anticipated and will be announced and presented at the 2014 conference. WAI membership is required to compete. Applications are currently being accepted, and must be postmarked by November 1, 2013.

In 2014, WAI celebrates its 25th anniversary. The kickoff event is the annual conference in Orlando, scheduled for March 6-8, 2014. The milestone anniversary will also be celebrated at the Embry-Riddle campus in Prescott, Arizona on Friday, October 4 and Saturday, October 5, 2013. Prescott was the site of the first conference that launched WAI. "That first conference in Prescott attracted 150 attendees, and we were quite pleased by the turn out," says Chabrian. "Compare that to the 2012 conference in Nashville where we had 3,375 attendees from 14 different countries." When asked about job placements from the conference, Peggy noted significant buzz on social network sites days before the conference. "We had a lot of on-site registrations when people heard companies were recruiting at WAI."

Ron Kaplan, of the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) in Dayton, Ohio, attended the morning press conference. He announced WAI was chosen to receive the 2013 Milton Caniff "Spirit of Flight" Award, recognizing WAI for its exceptional contributions to the advancement of flight. The NAHF will formally present the award at the 2014 WAI conference in March. Among recipients of the prestigious annual honor are the Dolittle Tokyo Raiders, Tuskegee Airmen, Women Airforce Service Pilots, Ninety-Nines, EAA and Apollo Astronaut Crews.

A question was asked about changes in women participating in aviation. Dr. Chabrian responded that there is an increase in the number of women with an ATP rating which she estimates at about 5,000, or about 4.5% of ATPs. For Air Traffic Control, the estimate is 20% women, and in maintenance, few in number, but an estimated increase of about 5,000%.

Women in Aviation, International is a nonprofit 501(C)(3) organization dedicated to providing networking, mentoring and scholarship opportunities for women and men who are striving for challenging and fulfilling careers in the aviation and aerospace industries.

(Pictured (L-R) Betty Daust, Ron Kaplan, Peggy Chabrian)

FMI: www.wai.org