The Hillsboro edition of the Oregon International Air Show will be an all-female affair with all performers and all key positions being filled by women. The show runs May 20-22 at the Hillsboro Airport. It will headline the female pilots who demo three frontline fighters, Capt. Kristin “Beo” Wolf in the USAF F-35A, Capt. Aimee “Rebel” Fiedler flying the USAF F-16 Viper and Lt. Amanda Lee wringing out the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Rhino. Other performers include Vicky Benzing, Ph.D.; Anna Serbinenko, Ph.D.; the Misty Blues skydiving team; and a flyby on the Saturday by an E-3 Sentry.
“I’m extremely proud that our community will be hosting one of the first-ever all-female air shows in the world as we celebrate the pioneering women of aviation,” Hillsboro Mayor Steve Callaway said. “When I think about the foundational experiences and events in our community, the air show always is at the top of my list.” The local 99s are organizing an all-female fly-in for the weekend and all fees will be waived for participants. All 99s who fly in will also get free admission to the grounds.
To be expected. When is the male only airshow and the hermaphrodite only airshow? Im especially looking forward to the binary only event. Would be nice to finally arrive at a point where we stop patronizing women and acting like they are some kind of freak show attraction simply because they are performing a task that women have been doing for a looooooong time. Look up Elizabeth Thible.
Quick, C340Guy, name three current female airshow performers besides Patty Wagstaff. Could it be that misogyny in the airshow business might have something to do with how many female aerobats get gigs?
2 thoughts
1. CFB Borden in Canada did this in 1995.
2. While strolling an airshow in 2019, I happened upon a young mom with a child in tears. Silly me thought the little girl was crying due to a very loud F35 show pass. Nope, the mom says – she’s crying because she hasn’t seen any girl pilots. With respect, “When is the male only airshow…”? Often.
How long has it been (if ever) that an airshow was specifically planned and advertised and marketed that only males would be performing and only males would be allowed to “fill all key positions”? Maybe if that little girl hadn’t been made to feel like women were held back she would have not been so surprised women are pilots too. There are books, videos, movies and simple trips to the airport to show children women fly airplanes.
Im happy when children attend airshows. Im glad that we all have airshows to attend to witness the skill and thrill of aviation. Airshows aren’t the issue. The point that Im making is that it’s 2022 and we are still treating women in aviation as if they are some outlier. Every time I catch a flight at a major airport I see many women pilots walking the terminals and many flights have a female Capt or co pilot and I have been on flights with an all female crew. My daughters AF helicopter UPT class was half female. My wife has flown for Delta for 25 yrs. My view is simply in aviation we can stop with the circus attraction mentality regarding women pilots. Everything is moving towards segregation and tribalism.
Comments like this remind me of the old joke about a child asking their parents, “why is there a Mother’s Day, and a Father’s Day, but no Children’s Day?”
And the parent’s answer is “because every day is Children’s Day.”
To be fair, think of all the millions of women who have detracted from aviation for over a century by using phrases like “but we need a new house”.