Davis High School Aviation Students Attend a United Airlines Event

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The airline event, designed to attract more women to the field, was held in observance of Girls in Aviation Day.

Davis High School junior Aaliyha Edwards Hunter attended the United Airlines Girls in Aviation Day event.

The Ninth Annual Girls in Aviation Day was Saturday, September 23. In observance of the day, United Airlines held an event on Sept. 19 at Bush Intercontinental Airport. About 30 young women from several Houston-area schools participated, including two from Davis High School’s aviation program.

Davis junior Aaliyha Edwards Hunter missed her flight lesson on Tuesday to attend the United event. The 16-year-old has already logged seven hours of flight time behind the controls of small planes with an instructor by her side.

The junior at Davis High School in the Aldine Independent School District is learning to fly at the Texas Flight as part of her regular school day.

She and the other girls attended several presentations, giving them information about all the jobs available in the aviation industry — from flight attendants to airplane maintenance, airport gate work, and other positions.

But for Hunter, there’s only one aviation job on her radar screen — piloting.

“Going forward career-wise,” she said, “I see myself flying private jets for people who’d like to do that. I would love to fly private jets. And then I’d probably do helicopters too if I have the opportunity and seaplanes.”

She’s trying to crack into a male-dominated field.

The U.S. Civil Airmen organization reports that, of the more than 600,000 pilots nationwide, only 10% are women.

Hunter says it’s time for that to change, and events like Girls in Aviation Day could help.

“There’s actually two (female) pilots in my school (Davis High School),” she said. “It’s me and this other girl. And I’m trying to get more because we need more women. We need way more women.”