September 30, 2015
ALPA Pilots Inspire on the First-Ever Global Girls in Aviation Day
ALPA pilots inspired girls at events held around the country as part of the first-ever global Girls in Aviation Day this past weekend. Designed to give girls an opportunity to connect with other girls and women in aviation, the events provided ALPA pilots with the opportunity to share their firsthand experience and tell girls all about their paths to the cockpit.
“Being able to be involved with girls in the community and show them that aviation isn’t just for guys leaves an impression on them for when they start thinking about what they would like to do for a career,” said F/O Rachel Lindvig (Envoy), who attended the Girls in Aviation Day event in Ypsilanti, Mich. She said the Ypsilanti event culminated with a “choose your path” session where the girls could ask questions of pilots and other volunteers.
“Future Pilots” at Girls in Aviation Day events in Minneapolis, Minn. ©2015 Larry Grace Photography
“I hope it inspires more girls to join our ranks in the future,” F/O Caidy Thompson (Alaska) said of the special day, adding that it was an “amazing experience” just as a volunteer. And that need is real; currently, only 5.4 percent of ALPA members are female. It’s a statistic that F/O Tiffani Gibson (ExpressJet) knows all too well. “I didn’t expect so many girls to show up for an event centered around aviation since women only make up five percent of pilots with ATPs,” she admitted. But when she found out how large attendance would be at her event, “I was excited, overjoyed, and ready to get started about telling the girls to reach for their dreams.”
“Our hope was if we could just inspire one girl . . . and I think we did!” said F/O Deanna Kimball (Delta). One girl at a time, in cities small and large around the country and around the world, that’s just what the ALPA pilots and other volunteers did on Girls in Aviation Day: Inspire.
Women in Aviation International (WAI) sponsored the global Girls in Aviation Day. While there have been Girls in Aviation Days in the past, this was the first coordinated effort across the globe.
See ALPA’s Flickr page for photographs of the various Girls in Aviation Day events submitted by pilots. Did you attend an event and want to share your own photos? Share with us using #girlsinaviation, or send to Communications@alpa.org and we’ll add them to the collection.
Click on the cities below to read about events around the country where ALPA pilots helped inspire at their local Girls in Aviation Day events.
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