- [Nick] We have to remember that aerospace traditionally has been a boys club and really specifically, a white boys club.

So there are a lot of systems and processes in place that are quite prohibitive to people that don't fit certain marks or stereotypes.

A lot of times it takes just one person to stand in the gap against what is known and what is common, to say that there is a different way we can do this.

(upbeat music) - So as we do a pre-flight, when we're initially walking out to the aircraft, we're always kind of looking, making sure nothing looks like it's hanging down.

We don't see any puddles under it.

- My name is Abigail Dowdy.

I am 16.

I go to Central Florida Aerospace Academy.

I became interested in aviation whenever my dad would take me to Women In Aviation events and all different events for all different aged women at the Florida Air Museum, Aerospace Center for Excellence, and the Lakeland Airport.

- [Nick] The Florida Air Museum started in 1986 with a really small mini museum and has grown to what we have today, which is a collection of some 30 to 40 aircraft, along with 2000 or so objects that we keep on display or in our preservation space.

But then also our other learning opportunities in our Skylab Innovation Center, and that's Science on a Sphere, which is a really cool amphitheater program that we have.

We just recently launched our first full motion flight simulator.

We endeavor to capture the imagination of students and kids in Polk County, so that we can get them on the track of aerospace.

- So the flaps we're looking at, if you push the flap all the way down, you can actually see the bolts in there.

So we're making sure there's movement in this and that.

We can see this.

We have at least four fingers on the stretch.

- [Nick] There are so many careers in aerospace.

For every pilot, there are a thousand people that put that pilot in that seat.

And so we really tried to emphasize to students that you don't ever have to fly an airplane, that aviation is for everything.

A lot of places say this, but we really are unique to the nation of what we offer here on the Sun Fun campus.

But we have a philosophy here that we call cradle to cockpit, which is we want to develop programs and systems in place that a student or a child from the ages of six months, all the way until high school graduation, that they can be taught aerospace methods and trainings and lessons.

A great example of someone who's come through these systems is Abigail Dowdy.

- [Abigail] I attend Central Florida Airspace Academy and a little thing that makes it so special is that as a 16-year-old, a teenager, I'm able to be fully immersed in aviation through my peers, through my classes.

My ultimate goals in aviation is to be an NTSB officer, which is the National Transportation Safety Board, to investigate all different types of aviation related incidents and accidents.

But in the long, long run, I want to be a missionary pilot who can hopefully bring peace and just love to different types of people of all different places and just to be able to overall help people with my gifts in aviation.

That's just really what I want to do.

I work at the Florida Air Museum as a museum attendant and most recently I was able to work the Women in Aviation event and I was able to talk to many different women of different walks of life.

But most importantly, I got to meet Kerri.

- I kind of combined both of those passions because I learned to love aviation when I was flying with the Navy.

And then by getting my meteorology credentials in Miami, I was offered this job up here working as a flight director with NOAA.

- [Abigail] People like Kerri are really inspirational people to meet because they can kind of gimme a glimpse into different opportunities that I may be able to have one day.

- [Kerri] My name is Kerri Englert.

I am a flight director here at NOAA Aircraft Operations Center.

Flight directors are essentially like in-flight meteorologists.

We are sometimes also considered the belly button of the crew as we talk to both the pilots as well as the navigators and then science crew and technicians that we have in the aircraft as well.

I absolutely love flying into storms, flying into hurricanes, specifically.

We are called the hurricane hunters.

We often get asked, are you afraid to do what you do?

It can be inherently scary to a lot of people, right?

We're in the business of going into dangerous environments to get this data, to get this research and it's hard to say that it's not scary, because you don't always know what you're up against.

You respect the environment that you're in and we adjust for that.

My advice for young women who maybe have trepidations about being in the aviation industry is really to hold onto that level of confidence.

You are just as qualified to be there as anyone else in the room or in the aircraft.

I have been the only female on a crew in the past, and it's that level of confidence that will then gain you their respect at the same time.

Eventually you really start to, at least here at NOAA, I can speak to, we become a family.

We go on the road together and I might be with all males, an all male air crew other than myself, and yet they're like my brothers.

They're like my family.

And it really becomes a wonderful experience.

You might hear some people say that the plane doesn't care if you're a man or a woman, and that's true, but it's also really unique to show that presence.

- [Nick] Ruth Elder was a very important aviator for her time.

Her, like other women, decided that they weren't gonna let the status quo get in the way of what they really wanted to do and what they dreamed of doing.

So Ruth Elder decided, along with George Haldeman, that they were going to fly from Staten Island all the way to Europe and she would fly for eight hours and unfortunately just hours before they could land, they had an oil leak, a malfunction, and they ended up having to bail out of that aircraft.

And then just about a year later, Amelia Earhart would complete her first solo flight across the Atlantic.

Ruth Elder was an incredible figure and it's amazing that she came from Lakeland.

She's one of Lakeland's own, that really did forge a pathway ahead for all women in aviation.

- [Instructor] Clear prop.

Alright, now we can turn avionics on.

And we should have use of our headset.

- My first flight experience was because my mom wanted me to have a flight before I fully dedicated my life to aviation.

And she says to this day that I got into the plane like I owned it.

- [Instructor] I see everything looks like it's working and operating well.

Alright, your flight controls.

- My flight controls?

- Your controls.

You already have decent aircraft controls, so you're holding headings, you're able to hold the altitude.

Very nice.

- [Abigail] Found CFAA.

And before my mom allowed me to apply, she made me do a discovery flight to make sure that like the school would actually be beneficial to me.

- Smart.

- And it wouldn't just be a waste of time.

- And you're a member of the Lakeland Aero Club too, right?

- I am, yeah.

I'm a member of the Lakeland Aero Club, the 99s, AAI, which is Young Eagles, and I work at the Florida Air Museum, so it's like I breathe, sleep, and eat.

- So you're fully immersed.

- I am.

I remember a time my ninth grade year that a guy told me that I couldn't do a part of a group project because I was a woman and just to let the guys handle it and that they got it covered and I didn't like that.

It made me uncomfortable, it made me upset.

And I remember being able to tell him, basically, I can do anything that you can do and sometimes I can even do it better because we all have these set of gifts that we're able to use all the time.

And at the end of the project, we got our grades back, group grade, and individual grade.

And I remember I got the highest individual grade for my section of the project, which was really rewarding to feel after that.

If you know what you want, you're able to get it, as long as you work hard for it, you can do it.

Just put the time and the effort and the work in and the reward will be 10 times greater.

(triumphant music) ♪ flaming rule ♪ ♪ You are like a rainbow ♪ ♪ of love flaming rule within your plane, ♪ ♪ up above when you are sailing ♪ ♪ o'er the sky, the sun is eclipsed ♪ ♪ by the light in your eyes ♪ ♪ flaming you are a joy to behold ♪ ♪ and you've set our brain away ♪ - Support for greater Lakeland is generously provided by Lakeland Regional Health and Candi Packet.