A group of female pilots will take to the skies over San Antonio Friday morning to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave some women the right to vote in the United States. Black women and other women of color, however, did not receive that right until decades later.
The flyover is being coordinated in part by two women’s aviation groups, the San Antonio 99’s and the Women in Aviation Alamo City Chapter. Cheryl Mora is the lead formation pilot. Mora was chosen for the lead pilot slot due to her total hours of flying experience. She has been a flight instructor and a cargo pilot
“The team of women have been preparing for weeks for the flyover, including a few practice runs in the days before the actual event,” said Mora.
Another one of the pilots, Veronica Velasquez hopes the flight will send a message to young women.
“I hope that it shows young girls a celebration of the past and that it inspires them for the future,” she said.
Velasquez is a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines and hopes to continue her flight training to become a flight instructor, and eventually an airline pilot.
Other pilots involved in the formation flight include Olga Custudio, who is a retired Air Force pilot and former captain for American Airlines, flight instructor Dana Perez and flight instructor Lacee Law, who will be flying above the three ship formation as the photo pilot.
The formation flight, consisting of four single engine aircrafts, is scheduled for Friday morning at 11 a.m. and will begin over Mission Espada and will continue over several prominent landmarks the Tower of the Americas, Ft Sam Houston and several school campuses. The formation flight ends over Braunig Lake, and then the aircrafts will land at Stinson Field at approximately 11:30 am.
Jerry Clayton can be reached at jerry@tpr.org or on Twitter at @jerryclayton.
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