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Girls Fly Too event in Abbotsford rescheduled after October cancellation

Event with free flights for female first-time fliers now set for April 29 and 30
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The Sky’s No Limit – Girls Fly Too event has now been rescheduled to April 29 and 30 in Abbotsford after being cancelled in October. (Abbotsford News file photo)

The Sky’s No Limit – Girls Fly Too event in Abbotsford has been rescheduled for 2023 after being cancelled in October due to what organizers said were “arbitrary demands” by Transport Canada.

The event, hosted by the Langley-based Achieve Anything Foundation, now takes place April 29 and 30 at Abbotsford International Airport.

It was originally scheduled to run Oct. 1 and 2, 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.

They said among those conditions was being required to provide personal contact information for all their hundreds of volunteers, which was not something they were prepared to do.

Organizers said the event has grown over the years to the point it has required additional approvals from Transport Canada, but the latest conditions were “impossible to meet within the time frame remaining.”

RELATED: Girls Fly Too event postponed in Abbotsford over Transport Canada ‘demands’

Girls Fly Too is described as “the world’s largest gender diversity outreach event of its kind in aviation, aerospace, marine and defence.”

Free flights are offered for any female first-time fliers, and numerous displays and hands-on activities are offered.

Transport Canada at the time said organizers of the event submitted an incomplete application for a Special Flight Operations Certificate – which is required to offer flights – and did not provide an updated one.

The agency said the certificate was not granted due to key areas of concern that included “a lack of information regarding the qualifications of pilots and aircraft that will be deployed during the event and lack of details on human resources (security personnel, volunteers) required to provide crowd control.”

Transport Canada said the event could still have taken place in October, but only the flights would not have been permitted.

The event is now going ahead in April, including the free flights for female first-time fliers. Show hours are 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. both days.

Volunteers ages 15 and up are needed, and application forms are available on the event website, girlsfly2.ca.



vhopes@abbynews.com

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Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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