An All-Female Flight From Delta To Inspire Future Women Aviators

The Delta “WING” flight- Women Inspiring our Next Generation- took off with 120 girl passengers and all-female crew members on Saturday. The all-women flight aimed at inspiring young women to become aviators and equalize the “male-dominated society”. The flight departed with young female students from Salt Lake and landed at the NASA Headquarters in Houston to give future potential aviators a tour of NASA.

Key Takeaways:

• The Delta WING flight took off on Saturday with 120 young female students aspiring towards a career in space and aviation.
• It was an all-female flight, with girls as passengers and female crew members.
• The flight took off from Salt Lake City and landed at Houston where the students were taken on an inspiring tour around the NASA Headquarters.
• Delta's WING flight originated in 2015 and has now completed its 5th flight, which aims at inspiring young women to become aviators and remove the huge gender gap in aviation.
  
  

The all-women flight aimed at inspiring young women to become aviators and equalize the “male-dominated society”.

The fifth WING Flight of Delta

The WING flight took off for the fifth time on the International Girls in Aviation Day, October 5, to inspire women to take up careers in STEM, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It also aims at closing the gender gap in aviation by encouraging women to be future aviators without any hesitation. Onboard were young female students between the ages of 12-18 years who had an interest in space, science, and technology. To select the students, Delta worked with the schools in South Lake City that offered STEM or aviation programmes.

According to the Delta airlines website, the flight was “planned and orchestrated exclusively by women- including the pilots, ramp agents working on the ground, gate agents boarding the flight, and women in the tower guiding the aircraft on its way out.”

The flight landed in Houston where the girls were taken to the NASA Headquarters for an inspiring tour around NASA's Mission Control Center, the Johnson Space Center and Space Center Houston. They also interacted with other women in the aviation field, including NASA astronaut and aerospace engineer, Jeanette Epps.

Also Read: Astronaut Barbie Is Here To Encourage Girls To Opt For STEM Careers

The reactions of the girls on being a part of such an inspiring initiative was mixed with amazement at the entirely new experience and inspiration. A 12th-grade student Katelyn said, “It didn’t seem realistic to go after a career in aviation. But today I realized, ‘Hey, I can do this too." 11th grader Karayanna said, “It’s such an exciting time to be in STEM. There’s so much left for us to discover.”

According to the Delta airlines website, the flight was “planned and orchestrated exclusively by women- including the pilots, ramp agents working on the ground, gate agents boarding the flight, and women in the tower guiding the aircraft on its way out.”

Huge gender gap in aviation, says research

Recently, a huge gender gap in aviation has been recorded in the U.S. According to research and data by the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aeronautical Center, out of 6,09,306 pilots in the U.S., only 7 percent were women in 2017. Besides, there are no female flight navigators. The Delta program has benefitted over 600 female students by showing them that careers in space are a possible and rational decision for women. Such initiatives can only inspire more girls to aspire to a career in aviation.

Picture Credit: Delta

Rudrani Kumari is an intern with SheThePeople.TV.

Also Read: NASA To Conduct First All-Female Spacewalk On October 21