Sisters Aubree and Kelsey experience working with plane instruments. Photo by Rachel Mills
Siblings Kenzie, Kaia, and Kayden Vanderhoff enjoy sitting in a plane at the Girls in Aviation Day event. Photo by Rachel Mills
Pilot Greta Miquelena holds the Women in Aviation rivet project sign. Photo by Rachel Mills
Flight Instructor Brooke Rappaport shows a couple of attendees about the parts of an airplane. Photo by Abe Mills
Pilot Kathy Wisniewski shows Anastasia Berstler the controls and instruments inside the flight compartment. Photo by Rachel Mills
Girl Scout Troop 2042 poses in front of a prop plane at the Girls in Aviation Day event. Photo by Rachel Mills
Pilots take time to encourage a future pilot. (l-r)Pilot Jessica Garcia, Pilot Emely Quintanilla, future pilot Charlie Kinney, Pilot Brittney Burwell, and Pilot Rene Clemens. Photo by Rachel Mills
Women in Aviation International Daytona Beach Chapter leaders. (l-r)Alyssa Black, Certified Flight Instructor/Pilot/Student Success Advisor, Linda Britt, Vice president of Daytona Beach Chapter, Erika Barger, Scholarship chairman Daytona Beach Chapter. Photo by Rachel Mills
Attendees from all over Volusia County and beyond joined the party for the fourth annual Girls in Aviation Day sponsored by the Daytona Beach chapter of Women in Aviation Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Sheltair hangars near Daytona Beach International Airport.
The event featured multiple prop planes on display, a jet, and a helicopter, face-painting, a rivet station, educational institutions and employers in the field of aviation, a NASA Robot dog, a station for sending a postcard to space, and more.
“As a small chapter, we are truly honored and privileged to be able to put this event on for over 1,000 attendees each and every year,” said Erika Barger, scholarship chair for Women in Aviation. “We've got sponsors, we've got vendors, and we have the static aircraft”
The local chapter plans events like “Girls in Aviation Day” in an effort to fulfill Women in Aviation's mission to inspire more women to pursue aviation careers.
“My hope for everyone leaving here today is to have some form of inspiration, to just spark a little bit of their dream moving forward,” said Alyssa Black, certified flight instructor, pilot, and student success advisor.
The girls of all ages were paying attention.
“I get to have a squishy airplane because I want to be a pilot when I grow up,” said grade schooler Anastasia Berstler.
Ten-year-old Charlie Kinney came to the event already knowing exactly what she wants to do.
“I want to be a Blue Angels pilot,” Kinney said. “They fly planes and they do shows around the world. I watched a show once and then I decided that's what I wanted to be.”
There were several pilots attending the event just hoping to share as much encouragement and knowledge about the industry as they could.
“There's no dream that is not capable of becoming a reality,” Pilot Greta Miquelena said.
Linda Britt, vice president of the Daytona chapter of Women in Aviation, acknowledged that knowing what’s available and knowing how to proceed is vital to the process.
“[We want] to give young girls resources on information on how to join the aviation industry, whether they want to be a pilot, air traffic control, airplane mechanics,” Britt said.
There are education programs for everything from being a pilot to working in mechanics or being an instructor.
“Students can apply for those scholarships that goes towards flight training or other flight careers,” Barger said.
For more information on The Daytona Chapter of Women in Aviation and their events go to https://www.wai.org/
