ALPA Women Fly Event Adds to WomenVenture 2017

June 22, 2017 - The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) will be hosting a Women Fly event as part of WomenVenture at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2017 on Friday, July 28.

Women Fly begins as a catered dinner at 5:30 p.m., followed by a presentation by Lori Garver, the general manager of ALPA and former deputy director of NASA. Garver will speak about women in space and aviation at 6:15 p.m. Her speech will address the past, present, and future of women involved in those fields, followed by questions from the audience.

“One goal of ALPA’s Women Fly event, as part of EAA's WomenVenture, is to mentor and inspire the next generation of airline pilots,” said Sara Wilson, first officer at Alaska Airlines and ALPA education committee member. “We will share insights about our jobs with students who are thinking of becoming pilots, such as how we attained our current positions, what was hard about training, what pilot schedules look like, our favorite parts of the job, challenges we face, and, hopefully provide participants with useful advice from our perspective. Join us and find your aviation spark!”

Then, at 6:45 p.m., the event will transition to a panel of ALPA female pilots from regional, major, and cargo carrier airlines. The panel will include these pilots speaking about their career paths, experiences, and include a chance for questions. Garver will moderate the panel.

The panel will conclude by 8 p.m., so audience members have time to make their way to the Fly-In Theater for the showing of Hidden Figures at 8:30 p.m. In addition, model airplanes from ALPA carriers will be raffled off, and the event will open and conclude with time for attendees to speak to ALPA pilots.

Tickets are available at no cost at the ALPA booth, located at the Education Building in the EAA Aviation Gateway Park, map location C-11 during the week of AirVenture.

WomenVenture events also include the following: the WomenVenture Social, presented by Endeavor Air; an Aviation Appreciation Dinner with Adrian Eichhorn, sponsored by the Ninety-Nines; the WAI Connect Breakfast; the WomenVenture Power Lunch at EAA Theater in the Woods featuring speaker Dr. Janet Lapp; and of course the annual WomenVenture group photo at Boeing Plaza on WomenVenture Day, which is Wednesday, July 26. Specific information on those events and the schedule of WomenVenture can be found here.