WIA Celebrates Girls in Aviation Day in Denver

The WAI conference was celebrating its 36th year. Girls In Aviation Day, which has been around for approximately 10 years, is an offshoot of the larger conference.

The WAI conference is traditionally part trade show and job fair with a heavy emphasis on networking and skill development. GIAD is an age-appropriate version of this as it offers girls between the ages of 8 to 18 a chance to interact with women who have careers in aviation asking questions about their paths to the job and take part in some fun hands-on activities such as an aviation scavenger hunt in the exhibit hall, flying desktop aviation simulators, learning about navigation using VFR sectionals, doing crafts, playing games and even flying drones in obstacle courses.

According to WIA, the girls had a chance to take part in over 25 unique STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities designed to encourage an interest in aviation and technology.

The day began with a scavenger hunt in the exhibit hall. The girls, many of them wearing their Girl Scout uniforms, weaved their way through the rows looking for specific items. There was plenty of time to stop and chat with the many pilots in uniform who cheerfully answered the girl's questions.

After the scavenger hunt, the girls made their way to a ballroom, which was converted into an age-appropriate hands-on learning center. The girls had a chance to fly a drone, fly an aircraft using VR (virtual reality) and fly via desktop simulation, along with games that encouraged "edu-tainment" as the girls learned about riveting, aircraft engines, navigation, and aviation history—and they had a whole lot of fun doing it.

One of the more popular games was found at the Joby Aviation booth. The California-based company is developing an electric airplane—the first of its kind—so it seemed fitting that the company hosted a game that involved matching photographs of famous women in aviation and aerospace with the aircraft or space craft she was known for. Among those represented: Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot the space shuttle and command a mission; Bessie Coleman, America's first black aviatrix; Raymonde de Laroche, a French woman who became the world's first licensed pilot in 1910; retired U.S. Air Force Col. Merryl Tengesdal, the first woman of color to pilot the U-2 spy plane; and Amelia Earhart, along with the Lockheed Vega she used when she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic by herself.

The keynote speaker at GIAD was Jessica Cox, who was born without arms and in 2008 became the first person without arms to be certified as a sport pilot. She also holds a black in Taekwondo and is a certified scuba diver. She told the girls how she learned to use her feet like other people use their hands, and how she flies an 1946 Ercoupe, because it is two axis-controlled—no rudder pedals. Cox has flown it all over the world.

Cox told the girls she used prosthetic arms until she was 14 years old and realized they were holding her back from the person she wanted to be. She used her life story to encourage the girls to design their own destinies. She described learning to tie her shoes with her toes then realized she’d have to get creative to do it. “Think outside the shoe,” she told them.

GIAD was well-attended, and many of the girls left talking about potential careers, along with souvenirs and many photographs to remember the day by.

Like WAI, Girls In Aviation is international. Since 2015, GIAD events have been held around the world, put on by WAI chapters and corporate members and made possible through the support of sponsors such as Sporty’s Pilot Shop, JCL Aviation Services, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, PPG Foundation, and the Emanuel Bachmann Foundation.

GIAD events are often held at airports, museums and FBOs across the U.S., Canada, Africa, Europe and Asia giving thousands of girls the opportunity to learn more about careers in aviation and aerospace.