Giving the GIFT of aviation

  • Published
  • By Capt. Linsay Auerbach
  • 730th Air Mobility Training Squadron
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  For the second year running, a Texas-designated pilot examiner and her band of volunteers, have successfully put on a week-long "girls only flight training summer camp" in Vernon, Texas. Mary Latimer and her husband, Lawrence, along with their daughter, Tamara Griffith, and her daughter Amanda served as the primary instructors for Girls in Flight Training, or GIFT Academy.

Between them, they hold four Certified Flight Instructor certificates, three Airframe and Powerplant certificates--two with inspection authorizations, two corporate pilot certificates, one flight examiner certificate, various type ratings and endorsements, and 24 years of air traffic control experience. This knowledge served to help educate and prepare the 45 women who attended to continue through the various stages of their aviation pursuits.

In its short two years of existence, the program has doubled in size, thanks to national attention in various publications including the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Attendees came from as far as Alaska, New Hampshire, and California and ranged in ages from 18 to 69, including a mother of five.

The program is meant to be flexible to accommodate students at different levels of instruction, Latimer said.

"We will adjust the teaching to meet the needs and goals of those who enroll in the academy," she explains on the group's website. "We will assist each student in understanding basics of flight, the joy, safety, dispel myths and fears [about aviation], passing the written tests, and/or prepare for an oral and practical test. We will also assist in the understanding of weather, weight and balance, aerodynamics, regulations, airspace, Global Positioning Systems, etc."

The GIFT Academy provides the opportunity for women in any phase of their flight training to come together to advance and finish their aviation training. Women pilots comprise of only 6.75 percent of the pilot population and this percentage has held steady for the last 100 years.

One of the Academy's goals is to identify and address various issues that may be causing women to abandon flight training, and then assist them in achieving their goals. They also spend time attempting to identify and to understand the differences in the way women learn.

To break up the intensity of the week, Latimer arranged several surprises.

One of the days brought the opportunity for the ladies to travel to nearby Altus Air Force Base, where they were treated to a tour of both the C-17 Globemaster III and the KC-135 Stratotanker, time in a full-motion C-17 simulator, as well as a tour of the control tower facilities, all led by female aviators currently stationed at Altus AFB. Rides in a Robinson R44 helicopter, aerobatics in an open-cockpit Skybolt, and a lesson in landing a tailwheel Decathlon also helped to expose the women to different aspects of aviation, as well as provided them with unforgettable memories.