Girls' dreams of pursuing careers in aviation take flight at Royal Aviation Museum event

An air combat systems officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force spent the day Saturday helping young girls in Winnipeg discover thatpursuing a career in the field of aviation and aerospace is possible for them.

"As a kid, I didn't have those role models in aviation," said Lt.-Col.Genevive Dussault, thecommanding officer of 402 City of Winnipeg Squadron, during the Girls in Aviation Day event, held Saturday at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada.

"I am so passionate about my job. I love what I do, and being able to give that passion to some young girls is great."

Dussault said she was lookingforward to answering questions about whatit feels like to fly a plane or how she became interested in aviation.

The event gave up to 200 girls from ages eight to 17the opportunity to engage with pilots, engineers and aviation professionals.

"I finally figured out something that really kind of, like, inspires me and gives me hope for my future," 12-year-old Wynne Cunningham said.

She's interested in the study of airplanes and wants to become a pilot. Aviation runs in the familyherdaddoes maintenance withthe Royal Canadian Air Force and inspires her, she said.

"He's just able to work with people to get these giant metal tubes to get upto fly in the air one of the most impressive creations of mankind."

Gladness Jeje and her friendNefe Martins, both 10,were excited to see the various planes at the museum.

Gladness thought becoming a pilot would be tough, but Nefe felt like she might be ready to take it on.

"I believe I could do it," she said. "I was really excited because I want to see realistic planes."

Girls at the event were able to get suited up in uniforms to get a better idea at what it would be like to fly, in addition to touring the planes and listening to presentations at different stations that let them learn more about the military, STARS air ambulance and the air cadets.

Dussault said she hopes events like Saturday's can open the door to careers in aviation for girls simply by raising awareness about them.

"You can't explore something if you don't know it exists for you and it's available," she said.

"I want the young girls to say that, 'This could be something that I could see myself doing in the future.'"

Aftera career in aviation that has spanned 28 years, she says there's still nothing that compares to being in the air.

"There's no betterday atthe office [than] when you're up there," she said. "It's like freedom."