‘Girls Fly Day’ takes young girls into the Ottawa sky to inspire future pilots

The annual ‘Girls Fly Day’ is encouraging young women and girls to consider exploring the world of aviation. CTV’s Kimberley Johnson reports.

It was a day of looking to the sky and dreaming big for a group of young women and girls who were invited to see what it’s like to be a pilot, as a woman’s flying club hosted an event that allowed them to take to the air.

“Girls Fly Day” was hosted by the Ninety-Nines Eastern Ontario Chapter, alongside the Rockcliffe Flying Club and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum.

The Ninety-Nines is an international organization for female pilots.

Kathy Fox, who helped organize the event and is a pilot herself with the club, says that only four per cent of pilots worldwide are women and by hosting the event, they hope to change that.

“We find that the earlier we can give them the experience of flying, the more likely they are to consider it as a potential career,” Fox said.

Fox says everyone who participated were volunteers, including the pilots who are flying their own planes or rented ones.

Organizers say 175 people preregistered for the event.

Among them, Maggie Woolcot, 9, who took to the sky in a small plane.

“It looks so cool,” she said from the air. “This is my favourite day so far!”

Mom Elizabeth Mavor says she works alongside people in the aviation industry and hopes her daughter is inspired.

“She can do anything she wants. And this is the type of event that shows she can do anything she wants,” Mavor said.

The event wasn’t just for kids. Carol Rondeau hasn’t been in a plane in decades and said getting to go back up was a bucket list moment.

“It was awesome,” she said. “Just being above everything and looking down. It’s awesome.”

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