In conjunction with Women’s History Month in the U.S., the 26th Annual Women in Aviation International (WAI) Conference fulfilled its promise to “Connect, Engage, Inspire.” The Dallas, Texas venue was the site of a diverse aviation job fair, professional development workshops and 50 educational sessions, all focused on women who work in aviation and aerospace, from flight dispatcher to pilot, flight attendant, mechanic and engineer. Over the years the event has grown to become the largest single gathering of women involved in the aviation industry, drawing more than 4,500 people, men and women, ranging from students and teachers to executives and retirees.
This year’s conference included an Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Rusty Pilots seminar, an FAA-sanctioned IA renewal hosted by the Association of Women in Aviation Maintenance (AWAM) and a day-long outreach event for girls aged seven to 17.
Honoring history, the group inducted four female aviation pioneers into its WAI Pioneer Hall of Fame: Pat Blum, co-founder of Corporate Angel Network; Phoebe Omlie, airshow performer and first U.S. female commercial pilot certificate holder; and Deanie and Nancy Parrish, historians for the Women Air Force Service Pilots (Wasps) of World War II.
“So many of our pioneers would remain footnotes in history,” said Dr. Peggy Chabrian, WAI president. “Inducting these women into our Pioneer Hall of Fame gives them international attention. Their accomplishments will not be forgotten.”
This year’s exhibit hall hummed with the energy of 150 exhibitors, dozens of sponsor companies and thousands of job-seekers–women and men networking with Airbus, Bombardier, Gulfstream, Textron, Piper, NetJets, JetSuite, XOJet and many airlines, all accepting resumes. Eight airlines, Textron and NetJets held formal one-on-one interviews onsite. WAI members (both women and men) were given priority for the job interviews through a sophisticated “Fast-pass” pre-registration system.
Career Development
The focus of this year’s conference was on more than its growing job fair and scholarship disbursement. “We definitely had more educational sessions and workshops on leadership,” Chabrian told AIN. “Some of our speakers remember coming to this conference when they were early in their career, and even were helped here,” she continued. “And many of the companies here are telling me they have come not just to hire, but because this conference is a good place for their employees to find career development advice specific to aviation,” she said. “We’ve noticed a considerable increase in both corporate jet charter companies and also airframe manufacturers exhibiting this year,” said Chabrian. “We hope that trend continues.”
General session speakers included Colleen Barrett, president emeritus of Southwest Airlines; Donna Hrinak, president of Boeing Brazil and Latin America; Heather Penney, director of USAF Air Superiority Systems at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics; Pat Blum, co-founder of Corporate Angel Network; Amelia Rose Earhart, aviation record holder; and Ravi Chaudhary, executive director of FAA Regions and Center Operations.
Among the educational sessions was a panel discussion on learning to lead by female chief pilots and flight-department executives from UPS, FedEx, American, United and ExpressJet, and one retired rear admiral. Each explained her path to the executive positions she holds, and why she chose to rise out of the rank-and-file workers. They also talked about being in the minority.
“You stick out whether you want to or not. That can be good or bad. I tell people you have people’s attention. So do your best job. Concentrate and show a good work ethic without complaining and you will change minds,” said American Airlines Dallas-based chief pilot Kathi Durst. The DFW pilot base is now the largest single pilot base in the world. Durst graduated in one of the initial Air Force Academy co-ed classes in the 1980s. “American’s workforce is both inclusive and diversified, but no one gets a job they are not qualified for,” she continued.
Retired Navy Rear Admiral Wendi Carpenter, now a career enhancement consultant, explained that “we need to encourage the development of women leaders in aviation, maybe even draw them in from careers outside aviation, if we see they have a passion.”
Houston-based 767/757 United Airlines assistant chief pilot Evey Cormican reflected on the choices women make, particularly when it comes to family (many of the women on the leadership panel had two or more children during their airline careers) and how it affects their career trajectory. “Family is what it is all about. My husband is a huge supporter of my career. He’s a pilot, too,” Cormican reflected. “We have about 1,000 female pilots at United, now. The WAI conference is where we find each other. And we’re overdue for having women in leadership positions,” she concluded. “My only fear is that someone not qualified for the position finds herself there. That affects all of us in a negative way.”
WAI’s 27th annual conference will be held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tenn., from March 10 to 12. More information is at www.wai.org.
Scholarship Awards
In line with the networking theme, 11,000-member WAI distributed more than $600,000 in scholarships funded by the organization, its members and its more than 100 corporate member companies. “There is no place like this conference,” explained Elizabeth Clark, an executive board member of Women in Corporate Aviation (WCA) and a senior pilot on the Global Express for FedEx Corporate. “The relationships that we create here take us across disciplines, gender, nationality...there are no boundaries. There is a cooperative spirit here–people are truly interested in seeing each other succeed in aviation,” she told AIN.
WCA co-located its annual membership meeting at the conference and awarded more than $17,000 in business aviation scholarships to its membership (the organization has awarded $100,000 in training in the last 12 months). AWAM ran both an IA renewal maintenance clinic and contributed to the Girls in Aviation outreach during the conference, all while awarding more than $120,000 on its own in maintenance training and starter toolbox funds. AOPA also awarded a $3,000 flight training scholarship.
