Girls in Aviation event volunteers, from left, Loyd White, an Air Force veteran and former air traffic controller, his wife Kim White, a former special education teacher, and Hannah Prevost, a representative of Nashua Community College, pause in conversing about the college's air traffic control curriculum and related studies. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

LONDONDERRY – Hundreds of potential aviators, astronauts, engineers, dispatchers and aircraft maintenance technicians flocked to Girls in Aviation Day on Sept. 27, an event based at Signature Aviation in Manchester and at the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire in Londonderry.

The presenter was the Boston Chapter of Women in Aviation, a branch of a worldwide enterprise promoting for a decade to more than 33,000 attendees in 33 countries the embrace of careers for women in aviation.

“I wish there had been an event like this when I was trying to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up,” said Kerri Fingerson, vice president of the Boston Chapter of Women in Aviation. “We want to inspire these girls to consider aviation as they make their college and career plans.”

The day included a host of activities inside a massive hangar at Signature Aviation, an FBO — fixed-base operator — whose personnel specialize in ground handling services for private aircraft and general aviation procedures including the fueling of jet aircraft.

The attractions at Girls in Aviation Day included flight simulators, a drone obstacle course and a scavenger hunt whose clues were found on aviation maps. Planes on display indoors and outside the hangar were boarded for exploration by attendees from several states.

Milford aviation enthusiasts Michael and Kristen Lynch brought their young ones, Addison and Avery to the recent Girls in Aviation event where there was available a variety of aircraft to board, games and crafts to promote aviation careers and representatives from the military, from flying schools and from Nashua Community College, a local favorite that offers air traffic controller training. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

The whoosh-whoosh of helicopter blades signaled the landing of the Dartmouth Hitchcock Advanced Response Team (DART), operational for 30 years of life saving. The flying ambulance whirlybird is on call 24-hours to transport patients to hospitals throughout Northern New England from air bases in Lebanon and Manchester.

The professional medics onboard included Paramedic Susan Steckevicz of Bedford, Paramedic Selena Laterion of Milford, Mass., and Base Manager / Nurse Faith Weed of Manchester.

Representatives from the Air Force and Navy were on hand. Staff from the Federal Aviation Administration described careers in air traffic control. Nashua Community College’s Hannah Prevost shared timely details about the college’s air traffic control courses.

Keynote speaker Ava Almquist enthralled families with tales of a career launched with her first aerobatics flight at age 17. Tenure followed at the controls of an Embraer 175. The twin engine passenger jet cruises at nearly 600 miles per hour.

Career opportunities abound for girls adept at Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

Joanna Feltrin, left, and her sister, Lorena Feltrin, residents of Windham, take make believe closer to reality at the recent Girls in Aviation event by donning a space suit and a pilot's uniform, appropriate apparel for each considering Joanna at age 7 already has declared that she will be the First Woman on Mars and Lorena is considering pilot's wings. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

David Greene of STEM Flights informed attendees that the local branch of STEM Flights, a nationwide nonprofit based in Virginia, offers free flights for Nashua area students. Boys and girls in middle school and high school apply for the program and learn about flying online. They are then matched with a private pilot mentor to go airborne for up close learning in the cockpit. Information: stemflights.org.

Suellen Feltrin of Windham commended the dozens of organizations and sponsors that made the day special for two daughters in tow — Joanna, who donned a pink space suit at the photo booth, and Lorena who posed in a pilot’s uniform jacket and cap.

“Joanna is 7-years old,” Suellen said. “She says she will be the First Woman on Mars.”

More information on Girls in Aviation Day, hosted by Women in Aviation International, a group with 20,000 members in 120 countries, is available online at wai.org.

Contact the local organizers of Girls in Aviation Day by calling 603-235-9297 or by email at BOSchapter@gmail.com.

The Dartmouth Hitchcock Advanced Response Team (DART) helicopter ambulance landed at the recent Girls In Aviation Day event with crew greeting attendees that included medical professionals, from left, Paramedic Susan Steckevicz of Bedford, Paramedic Selena Laterion of Milford, Mass., and Base Manager / Nurse Fayth Weed of Manchester, all of whom save lives by transporting patients to a network of Northern New England hospitals. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

A gyrocopter, a Bell 407, a Piper Warrior and dozens more exhibits and activities designed to promote an interest in aviation drew hundreds to the Girls in Aviation Day hosted Sept. 27 by the Boston Chapter of Women in Aviation International at Signature Aviation in Manchester and at the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire in Londonderry. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

Rylee Traxel of Nashua, whose mission at age 10 already is focused on becoming a pilot of military aircraft, admires as a part of the activities hosted during the recent Girls in Aviation Day at the Aviation Museum of New Hampshire in Londonderry, a 1929 aircraft — "The Doodle Bug," which was the first biplane, a flying machine built in New Hampshire. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON