GCAA celebrates Women of Aviation Worldwide Week

GINA, GUYANA, Thursday, March 9, 2017

The Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) celebrated the Women of Aviation Worldwide Week, with the pink paper plane challenge yesterday, at its head office in Kingston.

The pink paper planes, made by members of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA)

The theme for this year’s celebrations is, “Let’s Swirl. 80 Years of Female Helicopter Pilots.”

The Women of Aviation Worldwide Week (WOAW) is an annual global observance during the week of March 6 to 12. It is managed by the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide (IWOAW). On March 8, persons worldwide gathered to make pink paper planes.

Chitrani Heeralall, Acting Director of GCAA, explained that the pink paper planes initiative is carried out at a particular time of the day, where the challenge is undertaken to see how many people will get together to make as many pink paper planes as possible, with  the hope of entering into the Guinness Book of World Records.

“Often times women are not given equal recognition (and) the GCAA would like to create awareness to give females more opportunities in the industry,” Paula McAdam, Aviation Safety Inspector with the GCAA said.

Cabin Safety Inspector, Fionna Bell, noted that her journey in the industry has been challenging, but she is happy that it is no longer a man’s world. “You had men that said this is a man’s world, and a lot of us proved them wrong,” Bell pointed out.

WOAW activities have been organised in 40 countries, spanning five continents. The outreach part of the initiative is designed to spark aviation vocations within the female population, and improve gender balance in the air and space industry.

By: Zanneel Williams

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