Women’s Contributions to Flight Focus of “Daughters Day/Aero Expo”

NASA will pay tribute to women’s contributions to a century of
powered flight with two events on April 24 – 25, portions of which
will be broadcast via the Internet on April 25.

Women pilots and other experts will take part in NASA Internet
‘Webcasts’ and ‘chats’ intended for young people across the world on
April 25 for ‘Take Our Daughters to Work Day,’ and for ‘Aero Expo
II.’ Many of the activities also will be seen live by about 1,100 San
Francisco Bay area students at NASA Ames Research Center in the heart
of California’s Silicon Valley from April 24 through April 25 as part
of ‘Aero Expo II.’

“Both events celebrate women’s contributions to aviation over the
last hundred years,” said NASA ‘Quest’ Web site developer Susan Lee.
“Women have made some significant contributions to aerospace, and
there are many careers in that field that young girls might
eventually pursue.”

“Our goal is to accommodate as many students as possible from
underrepresented and/or underserved schools,” said Antoinette
Battiste, who organized of much of the Aero Expo II effort at Ames.
Students from 24 different California community schools — King City
to San Pablo, Oakland to San Jose, Salinas to Atherton — are
participating, she said.

Three women — an aerobatic champion pilot, a Civil Air Patrol pilot
and a Boeing 737 pilot — will discuss women’s contributions to the
first century of flight as part of a one-hour Webcast that begins at
10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT) on April 25 in the Ames main auditorium,
N201. This and other Internet NASA Quest events can be accessed on
the World Wide Web from: http://quest.nasa.gov/calendar/

Webcasts enable students to watch live video, listen to audio and
interact in real-time on the Internet with experts. Locally,
employees and their children — both boys and girls — can
participate in a myriad of events at NASA Ames on April 25.

“The kind of flying I do (aerobatic maneuvers like loops, rolls,
spins and hammerhead turns) is very physically demanding,” said
Cecilia Aragon, a computer scientist at NASA Ames who will
participate in the Webcast. “I sustain G-forces of up to 12 G’s
positive and 9 G’s negative. What this means is that my body can
weigh up to 12 times its normal weight — or 9 times its normal
weight hanging in the straps.”

Since 1990, Aragon has been a professional air show pilot and has
logged more than 4,800 hours, flying at shows and competitions in the
United States and Europe in front of millions of spectators. At her
NASA Ames job, Aragon develops software for aircraft and spacecraft
flight-testing.

A search and rescue pilot for the Civil Air Patrol, Wendy Holforty is
a second member of the Webcast panel. “As a search-and-rescue pilot,
I fly in search of downed aircraft and during disaster relief,” she
said. After college, she became the first female patrol police
officer in East Lansing, Mich. “During my career as a police officer,
I learned to fly airplanes and decided to make aviation a larger part
of my life.”

“At first I wanted to be an airline pilot. I then realized, that
while being a pilot was glamorous, the only time it became really
exciting was when something went wrong,” Holforty said. “This made me
turn to engineering and aircraft design. So I quit the police force
and went back to school to get a degree in engineering.” She now
works at NASA Ames as an aerospace engineer.

The third member of the webcast panel is Mitzi Saylor, a captain for
United Airlines. “Shortly before graduating college in 1986, I
changed job positions to the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System,
and shortly after graduation I acquired my instrument rating,
commercial pilot license, and multi-engine rating. Over the next
several months I also acquired part-time jobs flying skydivers and
flying traffic watch for KGO (San Francisco),” she said. In early
1998, she became a Boeing 737-300 captain.

“I just love science and aviation so much, and I want to expose the
students to another aspect of life out there. There are thousands of
interests in the world, and I’m happy to share my one small part of
the world. Some kids think it might be unattainable and out of their
reach, but anybody can do this as long as you have a strong interest
in it,” Saylor said. More information about the women and their
careers is on the Internet at
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/projects/aero/centennial/

Also on April 25, at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT) there will be an
hour-long ‘Web chat’ in both Spanish and English with Fanny Zuniga,
who works in the NASA Ames Virtual Motion Simulator where NASA
astronauts and pilots train. During Internet chats, youngsters use
computers to converse with mentors by typing questions and reading
responses and dialogue via the World Wide Web.

“I currently am working on developing new design tools and processes
that will incorporate new information technologies to help design
better-performing and safer space vehicles,” she said. During this
bilingual chat, questions asked in English will be answered in
English, and those asked in Spanish will be answered in Spanish.
Young people will be able to see the simulator in person at Ames on
April 24 and April 25 during on-site tours for Aero Expo II and on
April 25 for employees’ children.

April 25 Daughters’ (and sons’) Day activities at Ames for employees
and their children also include a one-hour session in the main
auditorium, N201, beginning at 8 a.m. PDT (11 a.m. EDT). During the
‘Leisure flying’ session, private pilots and aeronautics experts
will teach student how to prepare a flight plan. This program also
will be Webcast via the NASA Quest Web site.

‘Aero Village’ hands-on activities for students will take place in
Hangar 211 from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. PDT on both April 24 and
April 25. Students also will see an exhibit of the Stratospheric
Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a modified Boeing 747SP
aircraft that will house the largest airborne telescope in the world.
In addition, students will climb behind the controls of a Hiller H-4
Interactive Helicopter provided by the Hiller Aviation Museum and a
flight simulator from the California Antique Aircraft Museum. Other
hands-on events include a hang-gliding simulation, a paper airplane
contest and a computer lab where students can design their own
airplanes. Various aircraft will be on display in Hangar 211, too.

Internet Events, April 25 (accessible from
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/calendar/):

8 a.m. – 9 a.m. PDT (11 a.m. – noon EDT) – Main auditorium, N201,
Webcast, ‘Leisure Flying.’ Pilots and aeronautics experts teach
students to prepare flight plans.

8 a.m. – 3 p.m. PDT (11 a.m. – 6 p.m. EDT) – Day-long Internet forum,
‘Centennial of Flight.’ Six NASA women will ‘chat’ with Internet
visitors about women and aeronautics.

9 a.m. – 10 a.m. PDT (noon – 1 p.m. EDT) – ‘Interactive Webchat with
Amelia.’ During this interactive event, Web visitors may ‘chat’ with
historian and author Carol Osborne about aviator Amelia Earhart.

10 a.m. – 11 a.m. PDT (1 – 2 p.m. EDT) – Main auditorium, N201,
‘Centennial of Flight Webcast Panel Discussion,’ features three woman
pilots, an aerobatic champion, a Civil Air Patrol pilot and an
airline captain.

11 a.m. – noon PDT (2 – 3 p.m. EDT) – ‘Bi-lingual Webchat with Fanny
Zuniga.’ Zuniga, who works with a simulator in which astronauts
train, will answer questions in Spanish when they are asked in
Spanish. She will answer in English questions posed in English.
Noon – 1 p.m. PDT (3 – 4 p.m. EDT) – ‘Astronaut Video Contest.’
Features videotaped interviews with three NASA astronauts: Eileen
Collins, Susan Helms and Shannon Lucid.

1 p.m. – 2 p.m. PDT (4 – 5 p.m. EDT) – ‘Chat on Human Factors and
Medical Innovations That Have Improved Flying for Pilots.’

2 p.m. – 3 p.m. PDT (5 – 6 p.m. EDT) – Main auditorium, N201,
‘Interactive Webcast on Jets.’ A female corporate jet pilot will
discuss the field of corporate flying.

3 p.m. PDT (6 p.m. EDT) – ‘Contest winner announced.’ Answers and
winners to aero trivia hunt and astronaut video contest will be
announced.

Aero Expo II ‘on-site’ events for 1,100 local students
(Will take place on Wednesday, April 24, 2002 and Thursday, April 25,
2002, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. PDT each day)

9 a.m. – 10 a.m. PDT and 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. PDT (April 24 and April
25) – Main auditorium, N201, Two panel discussions each day by three
woman pilots, an aerobatic champion, a Civil Air Patrol pilot and an
airline captain.

10 a.m. – Noon PDT (April 24 and April 25) – Facility Tours. First
shift 10:15 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. PDT; second shift 11:15 a.m. – 11:45
a.m. PDT. Facilities on tour: Vertical Motion Simulator, Bldg. N243;
Crew Vehicle Systems Research Facility (airline simulators), Bldg.
N257; FutureFlight Central (air tower/airport simulator), Bldg. N262;
80 Foot X 120 Foot Wind Tunnel, Bldg. N221B; and Airspace Operations
Lab, Bldg. N262, room 280.

11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. PDT – Hangar 211, Aero Village, Hand-on
activities, exhibits, aircraft display.

‘On site’ events, April 25 for employees’ children (Take Our
Daughters to Work Day)

8 a.m. – 9 a.m. PDT – Main auditorium, N201, ‘Leisure Flying.’ See
production of Webcast. Pilots and aeronautics experts to teach
students to prepare flight plans.

10 a.m. – noon PDT – Bldg. N226, ‘Tour Aerospace Encounter.’
Interactive facility teaches 4th – 6th grade students science and
mathematics.

11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. PDT – Hangar 211, ‘Aero Village.’ Hands-on
activities, demonstrations, exhibits and aircraft.

2 – 3 p.m. PDT – Main auditorium, N201, see ‘Interactive Webcast on
Jets.’ A female corporate jet pilot will discuss the field of
corporate flying.

3 – 4 p.m. PDT – Main auditorium, N201, ‘Panel Discussion,’ featuring
three woman pilots, an aerobatic champion, a Civil Air Patrol pilot
and an airline captain.