COPA (Canadian Owners and Pilots Association) is pleased to announce that the organization is partnering with the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide to make the week of March 4-10, 2013 “COPA Girls Week.”
In her acceptance speech at the COPA convention in Hanover this past June, Mireille Goyer, founder of the Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide and winner of COPA’s 2012 President’s Award, invited COPA to “consider officially joining the Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week celebration by declaring the week of March 8, “COPA Girls Week”. COPA President and CEO Kevin Psutka graciously accepted the invitation.
The Women of Aviation Worldwide Week, held annually during the week of March 8, aims to foster diversity in aviation by celebrating history, raising awareness, and sparking vocations as thousands of girls and women are introduced to aviation through industry-wide collaboration. The most popular and fun way to introduce girls and women to aviation is to hold a ‘fly-it-forward’ event and take them flying
That’s what female pilot Kirsten Brazier of Yellowknife did in March, 2012. She and her fellow pilots took 425 girls and women for a free helicopter flight and the Yellowknife airport won the “2012 Most Female Pilot Friendly Airport in the World” title. And COPA Flight 34 Captain Hubert Wren and member Cathy Montgomery organized an event at Peterborough, Ontario. Over 200 girls and women had their first flight in a small airplane and the Peterborough airport won the second runner-up title for the “2012 Most Female Pilot Friendly Airport in the World.”
The real winners, of course, were the girls and women who tasted flight for the first time. In the words of Emmeline, a young girl from Oshawa, Ont., “As I have never been up in an airplane before (let alone fly one!), the plane ride you gave us was very much appreciated. The ride you gave us also opened my eyes to the world of flying, and how much fun it is!”
Other communities participated in different ways. For example, there were guided tours of airports and airport facilities, static displays of aircraft, presentations by women in the air and space industry, “girls’ days” at air and space museums, and many more activities.
In 2013, we hope that many more Canadian communities will join the worldwide effort and so Lesley Page, the Canadian Team Leader for the Women of Aviation Worldwide organization, will be in touch with COPA Flight captains in the coming weeks about holding events in their communities during the week of March 4-10, 2013.
In the meantime, please consider how you will respond to the challenge.
For more information, click here.
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The Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide (iWOAW) is a global not-for-profit consortium of businesses and organizations whose mission is to foster diversity in the air and space industry through outreach, education, and advocacy. Learn more at www.iwoaw.org