The annual The Sky’s No Limit – Girls Fly Too event that was cancelled last October returns Saturday, April 29 and Sunday, April 30 to Abbotsford International Airport.
The event, hosted by the Langley-based Achieve Anything Foundation, runs from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day and includes free helicopter flights for female first-time fliers of all ages.
Girls Fly Too is described as “the world’s largest gender diversity outreach event of its kind in aviation, aerospace, marine and defence.”
In addition to the free flights, the event includes numerous displays and hand-on activities that are open – and free of charge – to everyone.
Visitors can expect to see aircraft and tactical assets from the Canadian Coast Guard, RCMP and municipal police, cadets, search and rescue organizations, and Canadian and U.S. armed forces.
RELATED: Girls Fly Too event postponed in Abbotsford over Transport Canada ‘demands’
Among the VIPs on hand will be Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, who spent 13 years as an astronaut with NASA, logging more then 27 days and 15 hours in space.
She flew on Mission STS-115 on space shuttle Atlantis with Canadian astronaut Steven MacLean in 2006 and Mission STS-126 on space shuttle Endeavour in 2008.
She completed five spacewalks totalling 33 hours and 42 minutes of extra-vehicular activity time.
Girls Fly Too was originally scheduled to run Oct. 1 and 2, 2022, but a written statement was released Sept. 28, saying organizers had received word that they were required to meet some additional “last-minute” requirements from Transport Canada.
Organizers said those conditions were “impossible to meet within the time frame remaining,” and they postponed the event. In late November, they announced that Girls Fly Too had been rescheduled for April 2023. Visit girlsfly2.ca for more information or to register for the free flights.
RELATED: Girls Fly Too event in Abbotsford rescheduled after October cancellation