| by |
Mary Grady |
| Photographs by Mary Grady and Carlos Calvo
|
"Woman Power In Action!"
WAI Rides High On Good Economic Times, Pilot Shortage
As
passengers disembarked from a Continental Express Embraer 145 regional jet at
Memphis International last Wednesday, a young woman stuck her head into the
cockpit to ask, "Are you all going to the Women in Aviation
Conference?" — an appropriate question, since the captain, the first
officer, and the lone flight attendant all were women. Once the words were in
the air, other passengers chimed in; strangers greeted strangers young and old,
taxis into town were shared, and so began the camaraderie and networking that
would characterize the next three days in Memphis.
By
Thursday morning, hundreds of people were noisily queued in the lobby of the
Cook Convention Center, drinking coffee and waiting to register, to sign up for
tours of the FedEx hub, or to arrange banquet seating. Upstairs, 179 exhibitors
worked frantically to put the finishing touches on their displays before the
opening ceremony at 1:00 p.m.. Workshops for aerospace educators and aviation
maintenance technicians were already under way. College students, women in
airline uniforms, job-hunters in business suits, World War II veterans, a baby
or two, and a smattering of men mixed and mingled as the conference got going.
When the exhibit hall opened, lots of vendors were there to sell their
products — Cirrus, Garmin, EAA, Jaguar, schools and flight training academies
— but many came to pitch their companies as a great place to work, and find new
recruits. FedEx took pilot applications on a desktop computer; America West was
looking for qualified women to help fill 250 cockpit seats this year; Comair
needed 30 pilots a month; and even the NTSB had jobs posted, including a deputy
director for the office of aviation safety, starting pay $115,811. NASA handed
out business cards with the address of its Internet job bank. Raytheon supplied
a 25-page listing of opportunities in engineering, marketing, administration,
and flying at its sites around the country. Avionics technicians and aircraft
mechanics were in demand. If you're a woman looking for an aviation career, this
was a great place to be.
Climbing The Career Ladder
The
focus on careers carried into the afternoon seminars, which began with sessions
on public speaking and interviewing skills. Becky Dean and Kit Darby, of
Aviation Information Resources, emphasized that details count for everything in
an interview — from the cut of your jacket and the color of your stockings to
the tone of your voice and the look in your eye. A couple of hopeful young
volunteers let themselves be subjected to a critique, and went away with a
clearer idea of what will make or break them on that crucial early step on the
career ladder. What do you do if your captain tries to bust minimums? You'd
better show that you'd be willing to speak up and take control.
Raytheon Aircraft Company sponsored the evening's opening reception, laying
out the first of many food-fests, with huge piles of shrimp, fresh vegetables,
and hot hors d'oeuvres for the crowd. Aerobatic champion Patty Wagstaff took the
podium, and showed off a video of the Raytheon T-6A Texan II military trainer
that she helped develop. She said its cockpit is the first designed to
accommodate female flyers. Surveying the crowd around her with a broad smile,
she declared, "This is woman power in action!" and a cheer went up to
the rafters.
NASA Teams Up With WAI
Space Is The Place To Be...
Early
on Friday, NASA's first female space shuttle commander, U.S. Air Force Col.
Eileen Collins, joined with officials from NASA and Women in Aviation
International (WAI) at a press breakfast to unveil an educational poster
promoting aviation and aerospace careers for women. Featuring dozens of aviation
professionals from barnstormers to astronauts, the poster is part of a unique
partnership between NASA and WAI. At last year's WAI conference, NASA
Administrator Dan Goldin announced an effort by the two organizations to
encourage young women and girls to explore careers in engineering, aerospace,
and education. WAI members were asked to talk to school groups, act as mentors,
and spread the word that science and math skills are crucial. The free posters
were designed to help in that effort. Learn
more about NASA's Women's Outreach Initiative.
Collins spoke with passion about the "human side" of being in
space. When she was commander of a shuttle mission, she said, she made sure her
crew took a break from work, turned down all the cabin lighting, and took some
time to simply stare out the window at the incredible view below. Someday, she
said, she hopes that everyone who craves the experience of being in space can
have that opportunity, whether as a tourist or a scientist. She also said there
has been some talk at NASA about sending up an all-woman crew on the shuttle, to
help with research on women's health.
...Inspiration, Affirmation, Exploration ... And Elvis
One
highlight of the conference was its impressive roster of speakers, starting with
Wagstaff on Thursday and continuing in Friday morning's general session. Lane
Wallace, a columnist for FLYING magazine, opened with an inspirational
talk describing her own serendipitous career in aviation, and urged her
listeners to follow their hearts in making life decisions. She was followed by
Hansel Tookes, Raytheon's CEO, who said he would like to see many more women
working in his company, "...not just because it's right — it's a
necessity. We need you. Your country needs you, the world needs you."
That's a message women in aviation have waited a long time to hear.
Collins narrated a video about the mission she conducted last summer, showing
her crew, the shuttle launch, views of the earth from space, and the X-ray
observatory they deployed into orbit. She encouraged the women at the conference
to continue to excel at their work, and to persist despite setbacks. Her
sincerity and enthusiasm brought a standing ovation from the audience.
The
morning finished up with the inevitable visit from Elvis himself, complete with
sunglasses and white sequined jumpsuit. After serenading the crowd with "I
Can't Help Falling in Love With You," he haunted the busy exhibit hall,
where he posed for pictures, made a few moves, and then was never seen again. At
the afternoon sessions, career advice drew the largest crowds. Women lined up to
hear about business etiquette and the secrets to professional success. Over and
over again, aspirants were reminded of reality — "When it comes to
interviews, although theoretically you are equal — you're not" — but they
were encouraged to deal with these realities and not accept them as barriers to
achievement.
Friday night wound up with a barbecue buffet and tours of Elvis Presley's
Graceland mansion and his two airplanes, a Convair 880 with a custom interior
and a Lockheed JetStar. The Convair, named Lisa Marie, featured a bedroom, a
dining room, and a living room with chairs and sofas upholstered in velvet. The
JetStar had a fairly standard interior, except for a strange lime-green and
bright yellow color scheme. Clearly, nobody questioned the King's taste.
Encouragement Is Nice, But A Free Type Rating Is Even Better
Scholarships Boost Young Careers
At
Saturday night's banquet, scholarships worth more than $410,000 were awarded to
38 young women, ranging from $500 or $1,000 cash to help a student pilot or
A&P trainee, to type ratings in heavy iron worth over $10,000 each. Many
past scholarship winners have been hired by the donor airline after completing
their training. WAI is justifiably proud of its scholarship program, and the
dollar amount kept growing all through the weekend as donors upped their
generosity — often because they had so many qualified applicants that they
couldn't choose just one.
Also Saturday night, four women were inducted into the International Women in
Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame. Katherine Cheung, who learned to fly in 1932, was
the first Asian-American aviatrix in the U.S. Jerrie Cobb was the first woman to
undergo astronaut selection tests, in 1959. She passed all three phases of the
tests, but was not allowed to fly into space because of her gender. The late
Marion P. Jayne was a corporate pilot and air race innovator. Louise Thaden, a
record-setting air racer, was also inducted posthumously.
Next Year, On To Reno
Although the conference is in its 11th year, WAI as an organization is only
five years old. It differs from the venerable Ninety-Nines in that in that you
don't need a pilot's license, or even have to be female, to join — everyone who
wants to take part is welcome. This openness has been a boost for the
organization, as its membership expands beyond pilots — who are about 70
percent of members — to include dispatchers, air traffic controllers, flight
attendants, business operators, and educators. Two groups have already spun off
to form their own organizations — Women in Corporate Aviation and the
Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance. These special-interest groups
came together through WAI, and hold their meetings at the annual conferences.
Peggy
Baty, president of WAI, told AVweb that she expects to reach 25,000
members within the next 10 years. "Our best endorsement is word of
mouth," she said. "We've only just begun, in terms of
membership." Next year's gathering will be held March 22-24 in Reno, Nev.,
where Baty said everyone should be able to fit into one or two big hotels —
avoiding this year's transportation snafus in Memphis, where the shuttle-bus
system couldn't cope with the thousands of attendees scattered among 14
far-flung hotels.
For many of the members of WAI, aviation is clearly more than a career choice
— it represents a full-throttle approach to life. That shared passion brought
together a search-and-rescue pilot from Alaska, a flight attendant from Peru, a
corporate lawyer from Chicago, a 747 captain, and thousands more in Memphis. And
the message was clear, as WASP Vi Cowden said: "If we could do it then, you
can do it now.... Go out and do the thing that you want to do."
Just try and stop them.
For more information about WAI, be sure to check out the organization's
web site.
Email this article
