Inspiring the Next Generation at Green Mountain Aviation Field Days

Written By Beth White

Habitat for Aviation’s Women Build Planes team was thrilled to participate in the Green Mountain Aviation Field Days, which drew over 8,000 attendees—the largest aviation event Vermont has seen in more than 30 years. Stationed under the towering 70-foot tail of the KC 46 Pegasus refueler in BETA Technologies’ STEM Exhibit hangar, we joined over 20 exhibitors in making this the biggest STEM event in Vermont.

From toddlers to grandparents, our booth offered something for everyone, with a playful aircraft-themed space for the littlest aviators and hands-on activities for kids and adults alike. Children enjoyed playing with Green Toys float planes and helicopters, while older kids donned pilot outfits for photos with One Niner N802WB as a nod to our Rans S-21 built by the Women Build Planes team’s plane. Our interactive safety wiring and soldering stations were a hit, with hundreds of participants making aviation-themed keychains.

Throughout the day, we handed out hundreds of brochures and postcards and proudly displayed our Women Build Planes team member, Ashwil Bell’s, article, Build, Fix, Fly, was featured in Women in Aviation's (WAI) Aviation for Girls magazine, which will be included in WAI’s tote bags that go out to thousands of girls as part of Girls in Aviation Day.

Undoubtedly, the most rewarding part was the countless 1:1 conversations between our builders and the attendees. As the littlest of them looked up at our team members, many had a sparkle in their eyes, and time and time again we heard the quiet thought, “Maybe I could be her,” as our team sparked dreams for our future mechanics, pilots, and aviation specialists.

Beth White

Education Possibilitarian, Artist, Writer, Doula, Mentor, Aviatrix, Breast Cancer Survivor, Pilot-in-Command at Habitat for Aviation


In the spring of 2022, Beth White emerged from a 10-month battle with breast cancer with an idea: to create an apprenticeship program at Franklin County State Airport where youth work alongside adult mentors servicing conventional and electric aircraft. A pilot and airplane mechanic apprentice herself, and with family roots in the trades, Habitat for Aviation provides an taxilane for world learning opportunities for youth and adults who love to work with their hands to enter the FAA’s apprenticeship certification track. Each day she puts systems in place that make real John Dewey’s philosophy that we “learn best what we live” – a deep throughline from her time at Antioch University New England and as Regional Director for Big Picture Learning. Each learning experience is grounded in relationships, relevance, and practice. In October, 2023, Habitat for Aviation launched its Women Build Planes program, where an all-female team of Modern Day Rosies is building an airplane at Franklin County Airport, in northwestern Vermont, to show folks everywhere that despite the fact that only 2.6% of airplane mechanics are female, women BUILD, FLY, and FIX airplanes.

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