HARTFORD, CONN. – The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association honored Mireille Goyer of Delta, B.C., Canada, with the 2011 Let’s Go Flying Award at ceremonies September 24 during the AOPA Summit for her worldwide efforts to draw women into aviation.
In late 2009, she was searching for events marking the Centennial of Licensed Women Pilots (March 8, 2010) in which she could participate. To her dismay, she found none. Determined to not let this important milestone for women pilots go unnoticed and uncelebrated, she launched a worldwide campaign and encouraged pilots everywhere to introduce a girl or a woman to flying as a salute to Raymonde de Laroche earning her pilot certificate in 1910. As a result, more than 1,600 girls and women in 36 countries on four continents discovered aviation. She subsequently launched the annual Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week initiative in 2011 as the world celebrated the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.
Goyer holds single and multi-engine ATP certificates in the United States and an ATPL license in Canada.
The Let’s Go Flying Award honors the individual or organization that best demonstrates the passion and commitment needed to ensure the future of general aviation by ensuring that there are pilots to fly.