Friday's Fabulous Flyer!
America’s Amazing Airports:
Penny R. Hamilton, Ph.D.
Penny is a woman of many talent's with a love of aviation. She is a writer, photographer, aviator, leader, and educator who loves to cook. She was also inducted into Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2011. Penny spends her time sharing the love of aviation with children and conducted her doctoral research on Teaching Women to Fly. A lifetime in a paragraph doesn't do this woman justice, because Penny is giving her life to aviation and sharing that love with others. She's also making an effort to help preserve Colorado Airport History.
Curious where the inspiration for her book, America's Amazing Airports came from, I asked. There is no better place to begin, because it takes us to the life of Penny and her husband's driven motivation to inspire aviation.
America’s Amazing Airports:
Penny and her husband are both General Aviation pilots, who have worked closely with aviation groups to promote the community benefits of airports for over 30 years. They needed a consistent, focused message, told over and over again. That's exactly what they are doing. As Penny said, "Aviation and airports are inspirational and magical. Through the America’s Amazing Airports book I hope to help our aviation professionals share our enthusiasm with others as a lasting legacy" Available in both print and eBook on Amazon.
Penny says, "The book was meant to be public information tool for airports to share aviation career information with young adult readers (ages 14+) and an easy to read outreach/educational book for airports to share with their community and leaders. In addition to STEM career information, airport and even American history, I reviewed how we/aviation pay for airports. America’s Amazing Airports is a great size with plenty of photographs."
Penny says, "The book was meant to be public information tool for airports to share aviation career information with young adult readers (ages 14+) and an easy to read outreach/educational book for airports to share with their community and leaders. In addition to STEM career information, airport and even American history, I reviewed how we/aviation pay for airports. America’s Amazing Airports is a great size with plenty of photographs."
Children's Adventure Day:
The above photo is from Penny's annual Airport Children’s Adventure Day at Emily Warner Field at Granby/Grand County Airport, with she and her husband's Turbo Arrow. Penny says, "What is more exciting than an airport and airplanes? Because of today’s security measures since 2001, airports usually don’t allow “easy” access. We offer at least four open house events every year for students, scouts, Day Camper adventures with balsa wood airplane landing contests with prizes. I love it because at least half the time girls win the “spot landing” competition. "
Penny The Pilot
"The above photos was my visit during our World Wide Women in Aviation Week at our local Granby PlayDays preschool right before nap time so we could dream of soaring and flying like a bird, and we would color our airplane page after lunch to earn our pilot wings to take home."
"Because aviation education and aviation heritage preservation are so important to me, I have been teaching pre-schoolers and elementary students, dressed in historic costume usually as “Penny, The Pilot,” for almost 30 years."
"The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recognized this important General Aviation outreach with their prestigious “Central Region Aviation Education Champion Award.” Recently, my years of “Penny, The Pilot” aviation education programs for children was recognized with the ABC-Denver TV 7 Everyday Hero award.
"The above photo is "ABC Channel 7 News Anchor, Mitch Jelniker, and his camera crew micing me up for the “flying children” segment. This has the 2.21 minute ABC Denver Channel 7 video link for their Every Day Hero Award to Penny, The Pilot http://www.pennyhamilton.com/aviator.htm
I usually dress up at Penny The Pilot because children love to pretend. In addition to hearing my words about flying and seeing my “pilot clothes” they “fly” around the room so I bring in movement which makes my visit that much more memorable. Also, they will “earn” pilot wings to take home so they can show their family. The younger we introduce children to aviation, the more open they are to STEM careers. I still have little girls come up to ask, “Can girls fly too?” They are much more impressed that I am a pilot, even more than I am “Dr. Penny!”
If you would like to watch 5 minute version of the "Penny, The Pilot" video produced by the CO Women’s Hall of Fame click HERE.
The above photo is Penny dressing as Harriet Quimby. She said, "Actually the costume was given to me by Emily Warner because she used to wear it before she became World famous! I do this for older children and aviation events."
The above photo is when Penny was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame, as Emily Warner introduced her at the annual celebration way back in 2011.
I could not possibly do justice to this incredible woman's life. So, I suggest you learn more about Penny and her many activities by visiting her websites:
"Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."
Lao Tzu
Enjoy the Journey!
XOX Karlene
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