Womens aviation history

"It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here"

The path for lady pilots was not an easy one, meeting with resistance and stumbling blocks all along the way. Women had extreme difficulty getting flight training or hired in flight based professions.

Early women aviators got involved in record-breaking and long-distance flying, and dangerous stunts to attract attention and raise funds because of their exclusion from being test pilots or operating transport aircraft.

The road for female pilots in Europe as anywhere else in the world was a difficult path, but with the courage, and perseverance of female pilots like Harriet Quimby and Matilde Moisant they paved the way and helped to carve out a permanent place for themselves in aviation history. 

FEWP history of meetings

The FEWP was founded as a non-profit organisation in Rome in 1995.
Ever since women pilots have met in:Countries where FEWP organised and will organise the annual meeting:
1995 Rome, Italy,

1996 Dresden, Germany

1997 Eindhoven, Netherlands

1998 Munich, Germany

1999 Luxemburg

2000 Stratford-on-Avon, UK

2001 Florence, Italy

2002 Beaune, France

2003 Lausanne, Switzerland

2004 Salzburg, Austria

2005 Bled, Slovenia

2006 Cambridge, UK

2007 Chiemsee, Germany

2008 Trento, Italy

2009 Dijon, France

2010 Bex, Switzerland

2011 Rome, Italy

2012 Wachau, Austria

2013 Ljutomer, Slovenia

2014 Chiemsee, Germany

2015 Brasschaat, Belgium

2016 Caposile, Italy

2017 Paris, France

2018 Old Warden, UK

2019 Barcelona/Sabadell, Spain

2021-2023 (Romania, Serbia...)

FEWP women pilot pioneers

Fiorenza de Bernardi has been an airline pilot since 1967 (the first one in Italy, the fifth one in the world).
Initially alone, then with a growing number of international female pilots, meetings were held, friendships established, "battles" were fought with the Airline Companies to facilitate women employment.
It was a successful activity and today a large number of female pilots exist, also Captains, in every area of the world.
Those who are members of API are also members of FEWP
For more see: www.fiorenzadebernardi.it/