Aviation seminar aims to educate future pilots
By Kathleen Folkerth
GREEN — If you’ve ever wanted to fly but don’t know where to start, an upcoming seminar can help you find your wings.
Sponsored by the Women With Wings Chapter of the Ninety Nines Inc., an international organization of women pilots, the Aviation Basics seminar will take place April 21 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the 356th Fighter Group restaurant, 4919 Mt. Pleasant St. N.W., near the Akron-Canton Airport.
“We want to educate the public about flying,” said Bonnie Stich, of Malvern, a member of the group who is coordinating the seminar. “We all enjoy aviation as a hobby, so we like to share it as an educational venture.”
The seminar is for nonpilots ages 13 and older who want to learn about the basics of flight, aviation instruments and radios and navigation. And although the Ninety Nines is a women’s organization, the seminar is open to both males and females.
Stich said participants will
receive handouts for each speaker and notebooks to
take home. A buffet lunch also is included, as are Ohio
aviation charts.
About seven members of the group
will lead the various parts of the seminar, Stich said,
with sessions planned on preflight planning, basic flight
instruments, reading aviation charts and Homeland Security
issues.
The seminar has been offered
for about a decade, but Stich said it has evolved over
the years. Originally it was meant for those who accompanied
pilots, so they could feel more comfortable in the cockpit
with a pilot friend or spouse. But typically the group
would hear from people who had no experience flying
and wanted to know more about pursuing it as a hobby.
Because of that, the
seminar also has a session on flight
training, such as what to look for in a flight school
and what the various options are.
Stich, a registered nurse who
has been flying as a hobby for 20 years, said the seminar
aims to dash the stereotype that flying isn’t
for everybody.
“It’s a skill like
anything else,” Stich said. “It does take
a time and money commitment, but so does golfing or
any other hobby.”
The seminar also usually brings
in a couple of new members to the Women With Wings group,
which currently has about 50 members, mostly from the
Akron area. The nonprofit group meets the second Saturday
of each month and assists with local aviation events.
It also helps out with
the annual arrival of Santa Claus at the MAPS Air Museum
in Green. One of the group’s members flies Santa
and Mrs. Claus in on the runway adjacent to the military
aviation museum.
“We have a good time watching
him come in,” Stich said.
The Aviation Basics seminar costs
$45 for adults or $20 for students. Seating is limited,
and early registration is recommended. To register,
send a check payable to Women With Wings to 41 Navajo
Trail, Malvern, OH 44644. For more information on the
seminar or Women With Wings, contact Stich at (330)
863-2010 or via e-mail at ohioflygirl@neo.rr.com.
A member of the Women With Wings
Chapter of the Ninety Nines is shown leading the Aviation
Basics seminar, which will take place this year April
21.
Photo
courtesy of Bonnie Stich
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