Minacs $2,000 Flight Training Scholarship Winner Announced

TORONTO, May 8, 2015 /CNW/ -- The First Canadian Chapter of the Ninety-Nines (the international association of female pilots) is thrilled to announce that Raquel McNamee, 16, of Pickering has been awarded the Minacs $2,000 Flight Training Scholarship!

Raquel attended the "Girls Take Flight" event at the Oshawa Municipal Airport on Saturday, March 7. Presentations by women in the aviation industry and dozens of exhibits and activities, including booths where the girls could get information about careers in aviation and aerospace, inspired the attendees.  The event was part of the Women of Aviation Worldwide Week celebration.

Raquel, as well as more than 150 other women and girls, took a free flight in a small airplane! Raquel had the opportunity to take the controls of Bob Kisin's Piper Cherokee.

Thanks to a generous sponsor, The Minacs Group, Inc., the First Canadian 99s established a $2,000 flight training scholarship to award to an attendee. About a dozen women and girls applied. The judging process for the five top applicants included an interview, a session in the Red Bird flight simulator, and a flight lesson. The simulator sessions and flight lessons were donated by The Durham Flight Centre, the flight school at the Oshawa Airport, where Raquel will learn to fly.

Next year's "Girls Take Flight" event will take place at the Oshawa Municipal Airport on Saturday, March 12, 2016.

The First Canadian Chapter of the Ninety-Nines is the largest Canadian chapter of the Ninety-Nines (99s), the female pilot organization established in 1929 by 99 women pilots with Amelia Earhart as its first President. One key mission of the organization is to promote advancement of aviation through scholarships, education and mutual support. Over the past 75 years, the international organization has awarded well over 700 scholarships, helping hundreds of women achieve their aviation dreams. http://firstcanadian99s.com/

Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week is a global outreach initiative organized by the Institute for Women Of Aviation Worldwide (iWOAW). It promotes the advancement of women in the technical fields of the air and space industry. http://www.womenofaviationweek.org/

Minacs is a leading outsourcing business solutions partner to global corporations in the manufacturing, retail, telecom, technology, media and entertainment, banking, insurance, healthcare and public sectors. 21,000 Minacs experts across 35 centers worldwide deliver customer experience, marketing, and back office solutions to power superior business results for clients. Minacs has been an active and proud member of the Oshawa community for three decades. It employs over 1,200 at its local facility, including a vibrant young workforce. http://www.minacs.com

Durham Flight Centre or DFC, established in 1997, has been training aspiring pilots for more than 17 years.  Located in the Enterprise Airlines hanger building on the grounds of Oshawa Municipal Airport, DFC has earned the reputation of being a top notch flight school that charges fair prices for ground training, instructor time and plane rentals. DFC has 9 aircraft in its training fleet. DFC was recently named the "2015 Most Female Pilot Friendly Training Centre Worldwide" by iWOAW. http://www.durhamflightcentre.com/

Contact:

Deborah Katz
1-860-637-5790
[email protected]

SOURCE Minacs