A group that promotes aviation training for women says focusing outreach on teenagers is a less productive way of correcting the gender imbalance in the cockpit. The Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide (iWOAW) said in a news release that statistics show that most people start flying as adults. “Most outreach initiatives are restricted to age groups that are not in a position to act for at least another decade,” says Mireille Goyer, iWOAW’s founder and president. “Statistical data shows that nearly 50 percent of all pilots, male and female, learn to fly in their 20s, not their teenage years.” Goyer said iWOAW events and the incentives they incorporate are open to females of all ages, most of whom were unaware that an aviation career or hobby was available to them.
iWOAW sponsors events during the first week of March every year in which volunteer pilots, male and female, give short discovery flights to girls and women. As part of the promotion, the organization gives financial grants to the first girl or woman to solo after taking a WOAW week flight. This year’s winner was Wendy Rose, an Alabama woman who decided to learn to fly to help her young daughter achieve her dream of becoming an astronaut. “I wasn’t sure at first. However, I decided to set my goal on becoming a pilot and fly my little girl high in the sky, to be closer to the stars, until she can get there and higher on her own,” said Rose. She soloed seven weeks after her iWOAW flight and got $1,500 for more flight training and a Sennheiser headset. Increased sponsorship has allowed iWOAW to expand the program and offer cash prizes of $2,500, $1,500 and $500 to the first three new solo pilots.
