WINDSOR LOCKS — Visitors will be able to meet more than 100 pilots, engineers, and aerospace professionals Saturday, March 7, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the New England Air Museum’s fifth annual “Women Take Flight” day at the museum at 36 Perimeter Road, near Bradley International Airport.

“The museum and I are very proud to offer this event to the public,” said Amanda Goodheart Parks, museum director of education.

Goodheart Parks said that “Women Take Flight” is a great example of celebrating the past, present, and future of women’s aviation.

“The aircraft are the past,” she said. “The 150 women there are the present, and the future are the visitors and the young girls who come to the event. It’s the biggest event ever. We’re really looking forward to it.”

One of those 150 women will be keynote speaker Commander Rebecca J. Waddington, deputy chief of flight operations at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aviation Operations Center.

“We’re thrilled to have her,” Goodheart Parks said. “She made history for NOAA. She’s a great example of how women are involved in all facets of the aerospace industry. We’re really happy to have her.”

Waddington made history in August 2018 when she was part of the first all-female flight crew to pilot a NOAA aircraft during a hurricane mission

She made history again in September 2019 as part of NOAA’s first all-female, three-pilot flight team while flying reconnaissance missions over Hurricane Dorian, a category 5 hurricane that struck Bermuda.

Waddington will speak at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and will be available to meet with visitors from 10:30 to 11 a.m. and 2:30 to 3 p.m.

Other women participating in “Women Take Flight” will come from about 20 different organizations with many of the organizations having their own activities.

Activities currently scheduled include launching mini rockets with Pratt & Whitney’s Women’s Council, learning about aircraft maintenance with Embraer Executive Jets, and meeting service members and pilots from the Air Force Recruiting Service, United State Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the Air National Guard.

Museum staff will lead activities such as hands-on STEM projects for children, including engineering parachutes and straw gliders; flight simulators, and climbing aboard historic aircraft, including a Lockheed 10-A Electra — the same model aircraft Amelia Earhart flew during her attempted around the world flight in 1937.

Most activities will take place between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

“Women Take Flight” is included in the price of admission.

Museum admission is $16 for ages 15 to 64, $14 for seniors 65 and older, and $10 for youths ages 4-14. New England Air Museum members and children 3 and younger are admitted free of charge.

For more information, call the museum at 860-623-3305 or visit:

neam.org

———

©2020 Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.

Visit Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn. at www.journalinquirer.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.