Women in Aviation Breaks Records

The 27th annual Women in Aviation International (WAI) Conference took place last week in Nashville, Tennessee, bringing women with a passion for aviation together from all over the world. This year’s conference broke attendance records with nearly 5,000 people getting a chance to see top-notch speakers and network with potential employers.

During the three-day show, 4,640 Fast Passes — slots for interviews with airlines — were handed out to 2,064 members. In addition to airline pilot interviews, there were networking and job opportunities for aircraft maintenance technicians and engineers, military aviators, flight attendants, law enforcement, general aviation and more.

In addition to a successful conference, a notable milestone was reached in the organization’s highly successful scholarship program, which started at the 1995 conference, as the 10 millionth scholarship dollar was handed out.

The milestone scholarship was handed out by Flying contributing editor Martha King. The recipient of the Martha King Scholarship for Female Flight Instructors, valued at $18,120 was Lindsey Dreiling of Salina, Kansas. A large group of former scholarship winners gathered on the stage to celebrate the event.

The total value of scholarships for this year added up to $661,234. During the past 20 years, WAI has handed out more than 1,400 scholarships donated by more than 100 individuals, companies and organizations.