By Jenny Callison
Enquirer contributor

At the Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center today, the sky's the limit.

It's the site of the 14th annual International Women in Aviation Conference, a place where soaring ambitions and lofty careers are nurtured. More than 2,000 pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, aeronautical engineers, airport managers and other industry professionals mingle, share their dreams and learn.

IF YOU GO

Today is the third and final day of "Celebration of Flight," the 14th annual International Women in Aviation Conference. One-day registration is $175 for members and $225 for non-members. A one-day student registration is available at a reduced cost. Doors open at 8:30 and the general session begins at 9 a.m. It features women involved in engineering, aircraft restoration and manufacture and flight instruction. Educational sessions from 1:30-4:30 p.m. explore topics ranging from the bumpy economy to the impact of new security measures on the aviation industry. The exhibit hall, with 120 booths, is open from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The conference concludes with a 7 p.m. banquet at which more than 50 scholarships will be awarded. Information: 784-6020.

FAST FACTS

WAI chose Cincinnati as the site for its conference this year because it's saluting the centennial of flight. "Dayton wasn't big enough for us, and we wanted to be in Ohio," said WAI spokeswoman Amy Laboda. "We took tours to Dayton and visited the Air Force Museum and the Wright brothers' bicycle shop." • Wright brothers' descendant Amanda Wright Lane is at the conference, as is the replica of the flight pioneers' first successful aircraft. • According to Laboda, women make up only two percent of the commercial airline pilots in the U.S. and less than one percent of the aircraft mechanics. Eleven percent of engineers and 20 percent of astronauts are women. • To date, WAI has disbursed more than $3 million in scholarship aid to qualified women who have gone on to various aviation-related careers. • The conference, attended by more than 2,000 people, will have a $1.7 million impact on the local economy, said the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"The message is that women can do it," said Strike Fongeallaz, a pilot for Delta Air Lines.

"Not only are we doing it, we're sharing it," added Capt. Sandy Anderson, a Northwest Airlines pilot. "We help older women who want to change careers as well as young women interested in aviation. Twenty percent of our conference attendees are college and university students, and we've brought in high school students."

One of those young people, Ashleigh Wolf, checked out the aviation education opportunities at Ohio State's booth.

"I didn't know they had a flight school," said the McNicholas High School senior, who got her pilot's license last year and thinks she might like to pursue aviation as a career.

Publicizing aviation-related opportunities and providing scholarships is part of Women in Aviation International's (WAI) mission, said its president, Peggy Chabrian. She helped organize the yearly conferences as a way to help women in the field connect with and help each other. The first event drew 150. In 1995, she helped found WAI.

"We want to provide opportunities for others that we had ourselves, or that didn't exist for us," explained Fongeallaz.

"I shared a cab here with a United mechanic who specializes in avionics," said Capt. Bonny Simi, a pilot with United Airlines. "She thinks she may be furloughed. The next day at the conference breakfast I sat next to a woman who's in an avionics firm and put her in touch with the mechanic. That's how it works."

Said Anderson: "What's so nice now is that people come to this conference and get inspired, and then they come back to the conference five or six years later and say, `I made it!' It's such a neat feeling."

Thursday, WAI's outreach extended to two local schools. Member Nelda Lee, an engineer for Boeing, visited Chase Elementary School in Northside acquainted students with the basics of aerodynamics.

In the afternoon, students from Aiken High School in College Hill attended the conference. They got a history lesson as U.S. Airways pilot Connie Tobias portrayed pioneer aviator Harriet Quimby.

"Harriet Quimby, who was the first licensed woman pilot in the U.S., flew across the English Channel in 1912, when Amelia Earhart was still a teenager," Tobias said. "She later wrote that flying `would make a fruitful occupation for women someday. I believe that we'll fly these giant aeroplanes in comfort and safety to capitals of countries around the world.' And that's what I do today."

E-mail jcallison@cinci.rr.com.