Taking flight: Girls in Aviation Day touches down in new location for 5th anniversary
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BRIDGEPORT - The 5th annual 'Girls in Aviation' Day will be at the North Central West Virginia Airport on Saturday, Oct. 3 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event is hosted by The Mountain State Chapter of the Women in Aviation International Organization, whose goal is to raise awareness for job availability in aviation, particularly for women, according to Mary Hartley.
"One of the many missions of Women in Aviation is to help promote aviation careers to young girls and spark interest at an early age," she said.
The free, community celebration will host local companies, education partners and volunteers, including a mock pre-flight aircraft check, a worldwide airport codes quiz, giveaways, face painting and more.
"Participants will be able to do everything from weighing your luggage like you would a passenger going to fly out of an airport, doing a pre-flight airplane check, making sure all the parts of an airplane are in working order before your pilot take off, to security activities as if they were working for TSA," Hartley said.
Partners include Fairmont State University, West Virginia University, the West Virginia National Guard, Harrison County's Economic Development Corporation, Pierpont Career & Technical College, HQ Aero Management, MHI RJ Aviation and Civil Air Patrol.
Hartley is excited to host this year's events at the former North Central West Virginia Airport (CKB) terminal at 2000 Aviation Way in Bridgeport for the first time.
"With the North Central West Virginia Airport having just moved into a new terminal, their old terminal is currently empty and available, so we are having that as our venue this year, and our theme for the day is 'See What It's Like Behind the Scenes at an Airport,'" she said.
Hartley hopes this event shows young girls that there is a future for them in the aviation industry and that anything is possible.
"There is not always a role model for young girls to see themselves, and there's a lot of jobs in aviation that people just aren't really that aware of to begin with," she said. "One of the reasons that events like this are so important is to open young girls' eyes to what the possibilities are, because there's so often that you don't even know what is happening behind the scenes, let alone what jobs it takes to make all these things come to life. So, giving young girls an opportunity to learn about these things and see them firsthand is a really important step in getting those numbers to change in terms of representation."
While this event is targeted to young girls, the event is open for all children up to age 18 accompanied by a parent or guardian. All attendees must pre-register at https://tinyurl.com/s9e6seey.