LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — Girls in Aviation Day is giving young girls a chance to get much closer to what they spend so much more time looking up at.
At Lebanon Airport, girls climbed inside a helicopter used to film movies, asked questions and learned what it takes to get off the ground.
For Christina Williams, showing girls what's possible is personal. She is a first officer with Southwest Airlines.
"I actually hadn't seen a female pilot till my late 20s. So for us to share this more with girls at a younger age is so helpful for them to consider this as a career option," Williams said.
Williams said sometimes all it takes is seeing someone who looks like you in the cockpit.
"When they see someone, when they see another female doing the job of a pilot, they see themselves. They're like, 'I can do that,'" Williams said.
For some of the girls at the event, the idea of flying is already taking off.
Williams said it is the kind of exposure she wishes she had at that age.
"If 10-year-old me had come to an event like this, like I probably would have been a pilot much sooner. Most likely," Williams said.
Are you inspired by stories like Christina's? Have a daughter or student with a dream of flying? Kim.Rafferty@NewsChannel5.com wants to hear from you — and watch the full report above to see the moment these girls got their first real look inside the cockpit.
In this article, we used artificial intelligence to help us convert a video news report originally written by Kim Rafferty. When using this tool, both Kim and the NewsChannel 5 editorial team verified all the facts in the article to make sure it is fair and accurate before we published it. We care about your trust in us and where you get your news, and using this tool allows us to convert our news coverage into different formats so we can quickly reach you where you like to consume information. It also lets our journalists spend more time looking into your story ideas, listening to you and digging into the stories that matter.
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