Beth White: I looked around and I said, wow. There really aren’t any women around here or young people and I’m gonna change that. We have a really wonderful multi-generational group of women and girls. We purchased a Rans S-21 kit and we have started to build this airplane together.

Lucy Jabbour: That is Beth White, the director of Habitat for Aviation – a non-profit behind an all-female airplane build that’s happening in Vermont. 

DaiJah Metoyer: I also had the chance to talk with Abby, Ashwil [Osh-wheel], Zoe, and Aubrianna who are all participating in the build.

Lucy Jabbour: I’m Lucy Jabbour.

DaiJah Metoyer: And I’m DaiJah Metoyer - and this is ‘The Air Up There.’

Various People: This is your captain speaking. The feeling I get when I’m flying; you get an adrenaline rush. Seeing something fly is awesome. As soon as I had that flight, I just decided. Flying airplanes is all I’ve ever wanted to do. I get so excited about aviation, aeronautics, space, math, and science and engineering. Like star gazing and just wondering what it would be like to be up there. There is a space for you. There’s a lot of camaraderie. The support from the people. The air traffic controllers. There's so much freedom. I fell in love with it. I developed a passion for it. Just know you can do it. There’s certainly a place for everybody in aerospace.

DaiJah Metoyer: Can you tell us what initially got you interested in participating in Habitat for Aviation? 

Ashwil Bell: I’ve always been interested in science and math and I’ve always kind of been passively interested in planes. 

Zoe Brosky: I had no desire to get started in the aviation world myself until I met Beth and saw other people that looked like me in the field.

Abby Demar: She’s telling me about this Habitat for Aviation thing and girls building a plane and I was like – what? Okay, this is pretty cool. I could see myself doing it. 

Aubrianna Mayette: I met all the girls and I was like, wow, this is a nice environment. I’m like, I kind of fit in. 

Ashwil Bell: And I got to just talk to a lot of cool people and hear from those pilots kinda how they got into aviation. 

Abby Demar: Every week we go in and we go in and there’s something different to challenge you and I just look forward to that. 

DaiJah Metoyer: So, how would you say this experience has changed you? 

Ashwil Bell: I think that it definitely strengthened my interest in the math and science and engineering aspect. 

Zoe Brosky: It’s opened so many doors for me. So many that I didn’t even know were possible. It’s given me a sense of purpose as well. 

Aubrianna Mayette: I wasn’t even considering aviation and then just learning so much where I completely flipped my career. I went from wanting to become a combat medic to wanting to be an aviation mechanic.

Abby Demar: A year ago, I would not have imagined myself here building a plane with all these amazing people, so. 

Zoe Brosky: There's been around 30 different girls who have come and helped us build this airplane and I have formed such amazing relationships and connections with all of them. Has changed me dramatically.

Lucy Jabbour: How did you come up with Habitat for Aviation? Like what was the inspiration that kind of set it off?

Beth White: So, about two weeks before I was going to get my instrument rating, which is the rating that allows you to fly through the clouds, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That was a really incredible journey. I thought, you know, studying for the instrument written was hard. Well, breast cancer is definitely one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But you know, as humans were built for hard things. After about 10 months of pretty aggressive treatments, I came out on the other side  renewed and grounded in this purpose to introduce young people to aviation. We formed Habitat for Aviation, this nonprofit to inspire young people to go into aviation and that sort of all things aviation, we're talking maintenance, avionics, painting specialists that paint airplanes, builders, fixers, fliers. It's taken off.

Lucy Jabbour: You get this going, you have the hangar. You buy a build kit?

Beth White: Yeah, so the great John Dewey says you learn what you live. Big picture learning really centers youth around real world opportunities, which Habitat for Aviation has also adopted. So, we purchased Rans S-21 kit and it comes with about 1,000 pieces. And over the course of subsequent Sundays, we have started to build this airplane together. And we really take a lot of inspiration from our World War II Rosie the Riveters, who stepped into these factories when the men went off to war and helped build these airplanes. So, we're calling ourselves the modern Rosies in honor of them. Because it's quite a historic moment to have an all-girl team of youth and adults building an airplane together.

Lucy Jabbour: How far along in the build are you guys? 

Beth White: We just completed our 30th build day. And we have our tail completed. And we are working on our wings at the moment. We are anticipating about 1,000 hours going into the build. 

Lucy Jabbour: My understanding is there's a generational group of women working on this plane. It's not just like kids in right out of college or kids in the high schools?

Beth White: We have a really wonderful multi-generational group of women and girls. We just recently got our granny builder and her granddaughter who's nine. We have several hanger moms. And they we have one hanger mom who recently got this little sparkle in her eye and she's like, wait a second. Can I fly airplanes? Can I build airplanes? And I said, absolutely. So, it suddenly switched from like her just sort of helping her daughter enter this field to wow, maybe we could be an aviation family. 

Lucy Jabbour: How did you end up with the team you have today? Like, how are people finding you?

Beth White: EAA has a wonderful Young Eagles program. They take youth ages eight to 17, up on a young Eagle Flight, which is about 20-to-30 minute flight, and at the end, they get a logbook, which allows them to have free online access to ground school. And a lot of the youth who are now part of our program came up through the Young Eagles program. And then because we're such a tight community, and we're so inclusive, anybody can stop by. And so, friends would ask, can I have my cousin come? Can I have my you know, best friend come? I have gotten messages on Facebook from grandmothers who want to encourage their granddaughters. Kids of all ages come and then adult adults who are like, I'm kind of curious too. Can I stop by? And absolutely, our doors are open. And we welcome folks. 

Lucy Jabbour: Why do you think programs like Habitat for Aviation are important?

Beth White: Habitat for Aviation's core values are relationships, relevance and practice. And each of our members is here to find their gift or passion and then develop that gift or passion and then share that with the world. And I think more programs that allow youth and adults alike to pursue their interests where they have like a very strong sense of belonging. Suddenly, it's not about building an airplane or flying an airplane. It's about meeting people where they are and helping grow their passion. 

Lucy Jabbour: Beth who introduced you to aviation?

Beth White: About six years ago, I read this novel or memoir by Beryl Markham about her solo journey across the Atlantic Ocean. This is a 1936, before air traffic control, before GPS, and she flew across the Atlantic and she was heading to New York City. But her fuel lines froze. And she crashed landed in Nova Scotia, and she lived, took her airplane apart, and brought it back to England and put it back together again. And I said to myself, gosh, if Beryl Markham can do this in the 1930s, why can't I fly? And so, I took a discovery flight with my friend Joanne. After the flight, we had landed, and I was like, on cloud nine, I mean, anybody who's flown the first time and got to hold their hand on the yoke and feel the air flowing around their fuselage. It's just, it's just a magical. And I landed and turned to Joanne and I said, I'm going to call an airplane into my reality. And she didn't laugh or anything. She just said, well, what color is it going to be? Fast forward six months, I got a call from my middle school math teacher’s wife. And she said that before my math teacher Charlie had passed, they had seen on Facebook that I had taken flying lessons. And might I be interested in their airplane and hangar. Wow. I said, absolutely in an exchange for putting a new roof on her barn, I inherited a little Cessna 150, a two-seater, and it absolutely changed my life.  Which I named after my math teacher named Charlie. And so, my instructor came up and helped me get my pilot's license in Charlie. Quite soon after I looked around, and I said, wow, there really aren't any women around here, or young people and I'm gonna change that. I started as the youth coordinator for the aviation program for our local EAA. And I infuse that with my nonprofit big picture learning work, where we center youth in their interests. And we started very small with one student. Since then, I think we've put about 15 or more youth through their private pilot's license.

Lucy Jabbour: Why aviation? What makes it special for you?

Beth White: I think the thing that makes aviation special for me is that it is a symbol of freedom. Like when you get up there, you look down and like all the worries of the world are gone. And it's just so unique for women to be in the position of being able to pilot an aircraft or fix an aircraft. Only 5% of pilots are women. And 2.6% of mechanics are women.

Lucy Jabbour: What advice do you have for future aviators or, I mean, you know, just even people interested in looking at aerospace as a whole, there's a lot there, right?

Beth White: I think the first piece of advice I would give for future aviators is to try a discovery flight. And then you get a sense of like, whether or not this is for you. The second piece of advice is if you decide you want to become a pilot is to work on the medical right away. And then not to despair. Like if maybe that discovery flight made you too nervous or something like that. There are so many other really cool jobs in aviation. There are folks who are fixing the radios who are painting the airplanes who are fixing the airplanes who are working in air traffic control. I mean, the industry is incredibly diverse. So, if you really love working with your hands, if you love solving problems each day, then there is a space for you in aviation. 

Aircraft Mechanic PSA: Looking for a well-paying aviation career that doesn’t involve sitting behind a desk or in a cockpit? Learn how to become an aviation mechanic. FAA-certificated Aviation Maintenance Technicians, or AMTs, are the foundation for the safety and efficiency of aviation. Entry level AMT’s start out making $38 or more per hour. Sound good to you? Go to faa.gov/mechanics and check out programs at the AMT schools in your local community.

Lucy Jabbour: Thanks for listening! This episode ends the first half of Season 7, but we’ll be back with new episodes this Spring. Subscribe to our newsletter at faa.gov/podcasts and follow the FAA on social media for updates on episode releases. If you like what you’re hearing this season, leave us a review. A big thank you to the FAA podcast team working behind the scenes and thank YOU for supporting ‘The Air Up There’!