Teens get inspiring lesson by women in aviation

"We don't see many women in aviation,” said pilot Jessica Cox who spoke to middle school girls at The Museum of Flight’s annual Women Fly event.

A day full of activities geared toward careers in aviation and STEM inspired middle school girls from all over the state to take the controls of their lives by hearing from women in the field.



Keynote speaker, Cox, shared her unique experience as a pilot without arms.

"I actually use both of my feet on the controls of the and I also control the radios,” said Cox.

She said the journey to become a pilot has been long and tough, but that her biggest fear was flying, and she became a pilot to conquer that fear.

Other women, like flight nurse, April Telan whose message of pursuing your passion inspired young girls like sixth grader Kaara Little.

"It took me a while to reflect and figure out what it is that I liked to do,” said Telan. She says that now that she’s found her passion as an emergency flight nurse, she doesn’t ever want to do anything else.

Little, who took part in the flight nurse workshop, said it opened her eyes to the other possibilities of nursing.

"Since I really want to be an orthopedic surgeon I thought it was cool that they have to do emergency surgeries on the plane sometimes,” said Little.

Little and the other students learned one other important life lesson, that dreams really do take flight.

“I feel like you know women should be able to chase their dreams, and I know I want to be able to chase my dreams and it’s inspiring to see that people actually do get the opportunity to do that,” said Little.