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Women in Aviation touch down in Orlando

By Jamie Beckett · March 25, 2024 ·

The first stop for attendees was the registration desk.

Women in Aviation International (WAI) is a proud organization that represents a segment of the aviation population that is often given short shrift.

For the past 35 years WAI has held an annual conference where pilots, mechanics, administrators, and more gather in the spirit of career advancement and mentorship. They celebrate their own achievements, revel in each other’s successes, and applaud their peers, as well as the industry that inspires them with real enthusiasm and joy.

From March 21-23, 2024, the Orlando World Center Marriott in the heart of Mickey Mouse country hosted this auspicious group with stellar attendance, an impressive exhibitor list, and a palpable spirit of triumph in the air.

The exhibitor hall was packed with opportunities for everyone from the hopeful student to the experienced ATP. United, Southwest, Frontier, and other well-known airlines were prepped and ready to receive attendees. Tables festooned with colorful swag caught the eye, while staff stood ready to answer questions, provide insight, and generally help those they interacted with get one step closer to their ultimate goal. 

As with past editions of the WAI Conference, attendance is not exclusively limited to those carrying XX chromosomes. Aviation professionals of the male persuasion were in ample supply, too — thanks in large part to the hiring interviews conducted by a wide assortment of airlines that occur on site. 

The exhibit hall was packed with more than 200 exhibitors. (Photo by Chris Miller)

Hundreds of faces filled with anticipation and hope were on clear display throughout the event. All were vying for that next step up the ladder to a position where professional satisfaction and financial stability hopefully merge to provide the life so many have dreamed of for so long.

Whether their hopes and dreams rest with the commercial carriers, military operations, civilian government entities, or one of the many manufacturers and training facilities on hand, there was something for every aeronautically minded individual at the WAI conference. 

While the bulk of exhibitors lean to the civilian market, the military was well represented as well.

Representing the US Navy were Lt. Nikki Moyle, a WAI member, and Lt. Mary Brass. Both are instructors attached to the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 41, flying the Sikorsky MH-60R Sea Hawk.

Lt. Nikki Moyle and Lt. Mary Brass at the 2024 WAI conference.

Like so many pilots, they came to aviation with no specific plan other than to challenge themselves in a way that would hopefully mold them into being more capable, adventurous, confident people. Both have met that goal and surpassed it, with so much career yet to go.

Cheerfully engaged in casual banter before the exhibit hall opened to the wider body of attendees, Moyle and Brass shared memories of their first landing on a ship at sea. First, they touched down in daylight. Later, they performed the same task at night.

“My instructor held his hands up like this,” Moyle demonstrated, her hands held high above her head. She acknowledges this is a technique employed to let the pilot in training know, “You’ve got this.”

Moyle appreciated the gesture tremendously. A technique that worked well. “That gave me a lot of confidence,” she said. 

Good instructors are good instructors. They pass on their knowledge and provide the insight that allows their students to acquire and perfect new skills. This tradition is handed down from generation to generation. Moyle and Brass make it clear in words and deeds they are proud to be carrying on that high-quality training tradition with the new pilots they are paired with in the Sea Hawks. 

Perhaps 20 feet behind Moyle and Brass stood a knot of perhaps a dozen US Navy fliers not all that different from Nikki and Mary. All young. All women. All profoundly proud of being where they are, representing women and pilots in general who serve in the US Navy. 

When asked what they valued most about their experience as US Navy pilots, as well as their attendance at WAI, they initially found the answer hard to articulate.

When the words came they were as concise as they were heartfelt: “The camaraderie,” said Moyle.

Brass and her peers agreed without hesitation. 

On the civilian side of government sponsored aviation programs, Captain Jason Mansour and Captain Rebecca Waddington were on hand representing NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Commonly known as the Hurricane Hunters, that moniker belies the outfit’s true role.

“We do so much more,” Waddington said, offering as an aside, “I’m a meteorologist.”

Jason Mansour and Rebecca Waddington were on hand to represent NOAA.

She is also a pilot, which is apparent based on the colorful poster in the NOAA booth that featured Waddington and another female pilot at the controls of the Gulfstream IV she and Mansour fly. 

Throughout the conference seminars took place in break-out rooms all up and down the concourse. A wide variety of professional development options were available, as were discussions about mentorship, educational programs focused on aeronautics, mental health for pilots, and even how to find a workable work/life balance while pursuing a career as diverse and challenging as aeronautical pursuits can often be. 

Southwest Airlines was one of many airlines at the WAI 2024 conference. (All Photos by Jamie Beckett except as otherwise noted)

There truly was something for everyone at the WAI Conferences. The Orlando installment for 2024 not only didn’t disappoint, it arguably raised the bar for future editions.

The organization is well ahead of itself in encouraging you to attend in the future, March 27-29, 2025, at the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center in Denver, Colorado, followed up March 19-21, 2026 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. 

Conference Highlights

  • Total attendance of more than 5,200 people, including 142 international representatives from 35 countries including Nigeria, Canada, United Kingdom, Tunisia, Brazil, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and others.
  • The WAI Chapter network has reached 180 chapters in 26 countries worldwide representing 140 U.S. chapters and 40 international chapters. About 42% of WAI members belong to their local chapter.
  • The exhibit hall hosted more than 200 separate companies and organizations, representing all aspects of the aviation community.
  • 131 scholarships were awarded to WAI members at every stage of life for academic use, lifestyle enhancement, and flight training, including type ratings. Since 1995, scholarship funders have awarded more than $15 million to WAI members.

For more information: WAI.org

About Jamie Beckett

Jamie Beckett is the AOPA Foundation’s High School Aero Club Liaison. A dedicated aviation advocate, you can reach him at: [email protected]

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Comments

  1. Kent Misegades says

    March 26, 2024 at 4:55 am

    When and where is the Men In Aviation conference and expo to be held? Will the same exhibitors from the Women in Aviation conference be offering special deals available only to pilots with Y chromosomes, ie men? See how ridiculous it sounds when “women” are replaced by “men” in the above article? We need good people in aviation, not hyphenated people.

    • Eileen Bjorkman says

      March 26, 2024 at 7:16 am

      Given that the overwhelming percentage of attendees at every other aviation conference in the US is male, they are by default “Men in Aviation” conferences. In addition to WAI, I’ve been to many of those other conferences, and I assure you they all have the same exhibitors. And if you had bothered to read the article you would realize that there were plenty of men at this conference and there were no “special deals” available only to women. It’s simply an opportunity for women to network and be in a rare situation where they are not the minority and where they can talk to others about issues and challenges unique to women in aviation. Maybe you ought to attend next year so you can see and appreciate what really goes on!

    • Barney says

      March 26, 2024 at 7:57 am

      Kent your society is about the only one I know of in the world with hyphenated names. African-American, Chinese-American, etc. and for the rest of us in the world we are French, British, Canadian PERIOD. I love you Americans but you can find more ways of segregating and dividing your society than just about anywhere else I know of. I do not see Women in Aviation as so much a segregation as including a group to the aviation community.

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