On June 28, Whirly Girl, Banu Cole coordinated a Women Can Fly event that was held at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport (CHO) in Charlottesville, VA. Women Can Fly is a newly created volunteer-based organization whose mission is to promote women of all ages to fly. Women Can Fly events are sponsored by the Virginia Department of Aviation, the 99s, Liberty University, and the various hosting airports. Last year was the inaugural year for this organization and it hosted three events at various airports throughout the state of Virginia.

These events introduce young girls and women to aviation by offering free airplane and helicopter rides, static displays, tower tours, and exhibitions representing various aviation professionals and organizations. Banu Cole volunteered at two of these events last year and was inspired to convince her hometown airport, CHO, to sponsor one this year. The Women Can Fly @ CHO event was an enormous success, with 156 girls receiving flights. The Whirly Girls was one of the featured exhibitors at the event.

About Whirly-Girls International

Whirly-Girls International is a non-profit, educational and charitable organization dedicated to advancing women in helicopter aviation, founded in 1955 by Jean Ross Howard Phelan, (WG #13). In hopes of developing an organization where female pilots could share information and camaraderie, she was one of 13 charter members representing women helicopter pilots from France, Germany, and the United
States. Today there are more than 1,700 registered members representing 44 countries. Whirly-Girls is an official affiliate member of the Helicopter Association International.