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LINKS
President:
Terrie Riggs
Vice President:
Beth Matonak
Treasurer:
Rebecca Hamel
Secretary:
Melaine Ho
Site Administrator:
Daisy Diaz
WAI WEBSITE WAI MERCHANDISE AMELIA EARHART SITE AOPA CONF SITE NEW ENGLAND AIR & SPACE MUSEUM JULIE CLARK'S WEBSITE
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CHAPTER OF WOMEN IN AVIATION, INTERNATIONAL (WAI)
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES WERE DUE JAN. 31.
If you have not yet paid your dues, make out a check to "WAI Connecticut Chapter" in the amount of $10 and bring it to Tuesday's meeting or mail to Rebecca Hamel, 400 Main Street, M/S 165-63, East Hartford, CT 06108. Don't forget to write your WAI International membership number on the check.
We are a chapter of Women in Aviation, International (WAI), a nonprofit organization that encourages and offers programs for the advancement of women and young people in all aviation career fields and interests. The WAI-CT Chapter was granted provisional status with a total of 10 members in February 2007 and official status in June 2007. We are now registered with the IRS and have our 501(c) status under WAI's Group Tax Exemption.
Our new Connecticut Chapter will provide networking at regularly scheduled meetings, programs that include local speakers and tours of aviation facilities, community outreach efforts to encourage young women to pursue aviation careers and scholarship opportunities.
Our common goal is to combine our efforts to create a new platform to encourage, support and promote the world of aviation for our fellow employees and community members through education, exposure and networking. In addition, our chapter creates a positive business relationship between employees, companies, customers and the community.
Scholarship awards are a major part of what Women in Aviation is all about. The WAI-CT Chapter is raising funds to award scholarships to young women interested in an aviation or aerospace career. More information to be provided at a future date regarding the application process.
The Connecticut Chapter of Women in Aviation, International has achieved official status!
Membership is available to anyone in the community with an interest in aviation, including students of all ages. Our chapter is comprised of members with aviation industry careers and are employees of Pratt & Whitney, United Technologies Research Center, International Aero Engines, Hamilton Sundstrand, Sikorsky, and the FAA. Our members bring an invaluable wealth of knowledge to share with and encourage our younger generation to pursue aviation career fields and interests.
TO JOIN OUR CHAPTER
In order to join the Connecticut Chapter, you must first become a member of Women in Aviation, International. Click on the link provided in the left-hand column for information and registration or go to www.wai.org. If you join WAI, please list the Connecticut Chapter as your affiliation. You can then join our chapter. Membership dues for the CT Chapter is $10/year.
If you would like additional information, an email to this website (bottom right of this page) will go directly to the responsible parties.
VISION STATEMENT
Become a valuable part of a unique and dynamic organization which strives to promote women's accomplishments in aviation and aerospace.
Provide an awareness of the tremendous resources WAI and our new chapter have to offer women in our industry and in our community.
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Provide a local platform dedicated to the encouragement and advancement of women in technical positions including all aviation career fields and interests.
We offer education outreach programs to employees, aviation industry members, educators, and young people within our community.
WOMEN IN AVIATION, CT CHAPTER'S YOUNGEST MEMBER, KATIE WEGENER
We are very excited and proud to introduce the youngest member to our Connecticut Chapter. Katie will be in the 6th grade next year. She is a very good student, a member of QUEST and loves Science and Math. She is thinking about becoming an engineer.
Katie is also a very good athlete and competes on a USA Swim team. Her favorite strokes are the Breast, the Free and the Butterfly. She is one of the top swimmers on her team. She works out 4 nights a week. Right now, they are in their "Long Course" season, where they will compete until end of July, take the month of August off, and then start on "Short Course" in September. She was one of the best athletes in her elementary school and competed in the mile run at the West Hartford Cross Country Field Day in June 2007.
Katie plays the French Horn. She was in the Inter-Elementary School Band, which included students who were chosen from 11 elementary schools to perform at the Bushnell Theatre in May.
Katie is also learning to fly. Katie’s father is a CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) and her family owns a 1950 Cessna 170A that is kept at Brainard Airport in Hartford. She is doing well with learning to fly the airplane. Katie (along with her dad) has flown to Long Island, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and western Pennsylvania. Her favorite place to fly is to Katama Airport on Martha's Vineyard to have breakfast and go swimming at the beach.
Katie is looking forward to becoming more involved with the Women in Aviation Organization and the Connecticut Chapter is very pleased to welcome Katie as our youngest member!
2008 MEETING SCHEDULE
- Board will meet 1st Tuesday of every month
- Member meeting will be held 3rd Tuesday of every month
- Meeting will be held at restaurant once a quarter
In case of inclement weather - we will try to send out a cancellation note by noon.
Any suggestions or ideas for the board members to consider should be voiced at the member meetings or they can be emailed to any of the board members at any time. We are open to suggestions and ideas to help promote our association and women in aviation.
COMMITTEES
Looking for members to volunteer as Chair per event rather than entire committee. This will allow members to participate in any committee without the pressure of having to chair or lead the committee for the entire year. Please contact any board member if you are interested in participating.
UPCOMING EVENTS
MORE EVENTS PLANNED FOR 2008
- Second annual yard sale. Date and location TBD.
- Girl Scout aviation badges with presentations at schools
- A.C.E. Camp at Bradley Airport (tentative)
- Aviation Career Camp to take place in summer (week-long camp for girls, essentially a mini-ground school). The FAA used to sponsor this event and Marilyn and Carol are looking to revive it.
If anyone has any ideas for future events, please bring it up at the next meeting.
IN PROCESS OF UPDATING TO INCLUDE WAI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE PHOTOS.
This year's conference began with WAI Military Day which included a tour of Naval Air Station-North Island followed by a tour of aircraft carrier, USS Midway. Upon arrival at North Island, we were given the option of touring the aircraft static displays and talking with the pilots and maintenance personnel or touring the Flight Readiness Center (FRC), where damaged rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft are rebuilt and put back into service, saving our military millions of dollars.
While touring aircraft carrier USS Midway, we were honored to meet Mary Ann Eiff, one of many women mechanics that kept the engines in service during World War II.
Three young women were selected from participants in the New England Air Museum’s annual "Women Take Flight, Past and Present" presented by the New England Air Museum in collaboration with the NinetyNines on November 4, 2007.
Supported by the Experimental Aircraft Association, New England Air Museum, the 99s, and the FAA, these women took advantage of beautiful Fall weather in New England and grabbed hold of the controls of the Piper PA-28-180 and launched their dreams of flying.
Experimental Aircraft Association Member, Marilyn Pearson, an FAA Aviation Safety Inspector and member of the 99s and WAI-CT Chapter, took eleven year-old Jasmine Ichpas for her first flight in a light airplane. Jasmine is participating in a CT Pre-Engineering Program (CPEP) and hopes to learn to fly soon.
Deanna Speziale, another eleven year-old beamed after her flight, hoping to combine flying and engineering in her future.
Seventeen year-old Liz Marrero overcame nerves and piloted the airplane, making her Jr. ROTC leader very proud. Liz hopes to attend Tufts University, and study to become a Veterinarian and Pilot.
We hosted our first event at the Pratt & Whitney Hangar Museum in East Hartford, CT with more than 70 people in attendance.
The highlights of the East Hartford event included guest speaker Dr. Peggy Chabrian, WAI founder and president, who spoke about the history of WAI and how it was formed. Eleven-year-old Katie Wegener, our youngest member, spoke about her experiences and Girl Scout Aviation patches were presented to Vernon Girl Scout Troop 10735.
Visitors from Flight Support, Inc., Wings of Eagles, Air Jamaica, and the Matos Group joined representatives from across UTC which included Sikorsky, Hamilton Sundstrand, Carrier Corporation, United Technologies Research Center and Pratt & Whitney. Other organizations in attendance were The Ninety-Nines, Inc., International Organization of Women Pilots, Vernon Girl Scout Troup 10735, AOPA, East Hartford High School and the New England Air Museum.
Wednesday’s event preceded the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Expo which was held at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford on October 4-6. Among the sixty exhibitors at the expo were members of WAI International.
On this beautiful Sunday afternoon, WAI members helped Pratt & Whitney employee volunteers assemble and fill 850 goody-bags with water bottles, playing cards, book lights, stationery, and baseball hats that were donated by Pratt & Whitney for incoming summer campers.
Each summer more than 1,000 children between the ages of seven and fifteen from across the country and abroad attend The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp free of charge. This camp offers an outdoor experience of the highest quality for children with cancer and other serious illnesses, while extending year-round support to their families and health care providers.
MARCH 13-15, 2008
19TH ANNUAL WAI CONFERENCE, SAN DIEGO, CA
WAI International Founding Board Member, Mary Ann Eiff, in front of a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double WASP engine during tour of the USS Midway.
CT Chapter Member, Meredithe Moore, had an opportunity to sit in the cockpit of an F-18 during tour of the Flight Readiness Center in North Island.
CT Chapter Member, Jerry Ashley, won the silent auction to go for a ride with Aerobatic Air Show Pilot, Julie Clark, on her T-34 Mentor. Julie, who retired from Northwest Airlines after 27 years as captain on the Airbus A-320, was Hughes Air West Airline's first female pilot. To read more about her interesting career, click on her name in the links section on the left-hand column.
CT Chapter Member, Jerry Ashley, about to take off for her airplane ride with Julie Clark.
Yep! Julie took no mercy on Jerry! There they go....
Taken after landing. Jerry appears to have a little less color but she is still smiling!
Aerobatic Air Show Pilot, Julie Clark and CT Chapter Member, Jerry Ashley.
CT Chapter Members Cindy Vivolo and Patty Harmon with Chuck Yeager.
WAI INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
The CT Chapter was recognized at the WAI Annual Membership Meeting since this is our first year as an official chapter (last year we were a provisional chapter). Other topics covered at this meeting were the endowment update, special presentation of the ten year anniversary of the magazine, some scholarship awards presentations, and election of the officers. Everyone in attendance was given a commemorative poster with all the WAI magazine covers for the past ten years.
Representing the CT Chapter were members Cindy Vivolo, Daisy Diaz, Meredith Moore, and Jerry Ashley.
I WILL CONTINUE UPDATING AS TIME PERMITS.
NOVEMBER 17-18, 2007
YOUNG EAGLES TAKE FLIGHT 
Deanna Speziale (left) and FAA Aviation Safety Inspector and Pilot, Marilyn Pearson 
Deanna Speziale enjoying her first flight
OCTOBER 3, 2007
RECEPTION AT THE PRATT & WHITNEY HANGAR, EAST HARTFORD, CT.
Dr. Peggy Chabrian, Founder of WAI 
Dr. Peggy with some of our chapter members.
Eileen Drake with some of our chapter members.
Our Student Member, Katie Wegener (center) and proud parents.
Girl Scouts are all smiles after receiving their aviation badges.
Girl Scout and mom after receiving aviation badge.
Audience as they listened to Dr. Peggy Chabrain
Attendees at the October 3 reception.
CT Chapter members.
AUGUST 16, 2007
FUNDRAISING YARD SALE HELD IN EAST HARTFORD, CT
JUNE 24, 2007
VOLUNTEER DAY AT EAST HARTFORD HOLE IN THE WALL GANG CAMP.
CT Chapter Members at the Hole In The Wall Gang Camp.
