ANN Checks In With Some of The Folks Attending This Year's
Women In Aviation Conference
By ANN Correspondent Aleta Vinas
Lynda Meeks has been a
pilot for about twelve years now. She didn’t choose aviation
because of a mentor or an educational program. Instead, Meeks
became a pilot almost on a dare. Her Army ROTC instructor told her
that Army aviation was the toughest branch to get into. Suitably
challenged, Lynda rose to the occasion and now pilots
both fixed and rotary wing aircraft.
Recently, while seated on a commercial airliner while her
seven year Army stint was nearly over, Meeks was preparing to
“hang up her headset.” On the flight the Captain made
the usual announcements, while a young girl behind Meeks said
“Mom, how come you never hear any girl pilots?”
That was enough for Meeks; she remained in aviation, this time
on the civilian side, and saw the need not only to spread the
word of aviation as a career choice for females, but a need for
aviatrix-friendly accessories as well. Shopping for her young
nieces and friend’s children, Meeks noticed a decided lack of
girlish aviation items.
Just over a year ago, Very Important Pilots, LLC was born.
VIP’s mission is to encourage more young girls to consider
aviation as one of the many career choices they have available to
them. Two subsidiaries have been formed to accomplish this
goal.
Girls With Wings offers “adorable accessories for
future fliers.” The product line offers items for little
girls and big girls; clothing, jewelry, totes and accessories. A
special doll collection is being developed as well. The
dolls represent different fields of aviation
while storylines are being developed for the dolls to
carry over into books, videos, and more.
Parents will have the choice of choosing dolls that are both
“educational and fun.”
A 'Girls With Wings' web-site now features game pages and
an airplane screensaver, but the most important aspect of the Girls
With Wings site are the biographies of real life 'Girls With
Wings.' Women with aviation careers are encouraged to submit their
biographies so young girls can read about what they do and gain
inspiration form those who are blazing the way for
thers. There are airline pilots, Air Traffic Controllers,
firefighter pilots and more. Many more biographies are needed. The
biography outline can be found on the VIP site.
A sister site, 'Generate LIFT (Lead. Inspire. Fund.
Train.)' is designed to encourage young people to achieve their
aspirations. The site is also designed to encourage an aviation
community network. Volunteers are invited to sign up to become a
mentor, speaker, tutor or other capacity to generate an interest in
aviation. There is a form letter that volunteers can use to send to
local schools, scouts, clubs or other groups. A future goal of
Generate LIFT is to offer scholarships to offset the cost of flight
training.
Girls With Wings will soon be showing up at events near you,
including the Ninety-Nines Convention July 5 – 9, 2006 in
Washington (DC), and EAA Air Venture July 24 – 30, 2006 in
Oshkosh (WI). The indicator of Meeks’s ultimate success will
be to one day hear someone say, “Girls With Wings, why would
you need to promote such a thing?”
As a side note, while I was waiting for my flight at the
Nashville Airport after the convention, there was a little girl
exclaiming “I love airplanes, I love airplanes.” I wish
I had my Girls With Wings brochure handy but I did give her one of
the airplane pins I had picked up at the convention. The little
girl’s name was Destiny.
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