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Women of Aviation Week Profile – Tara Meikle

March 5-11 is Women of Aviation Worldwide Week. COPA is proud to support this and the many other initiatives that work tirelessly to promote women’s involvement in all different aspects of the aviation industry. Each day during WOAW week, we are profiling a COPA member who is promoting aviation in her own area of the industry.

Today’s WOAW member profile is Tara Meikle, of Alberta, who holds a CPL and is currently an Apprentice AME. We asked Tara about what inspired her to get involved in aviation, about her plans for the future, and how she sees COPA’s role in aviation:

What inspired you to get involved in aviation?

I owe my start in the aviation industry to the Air Cadet program. There were many activities and opportunities to learn about and get involved with aviation.

A short history of your aviation career up to now

When I graduated high school, I moved to Manitoba to pursue a career in aviation. I completed my private and commercial pilot licenses in southern Manitoba. During this time, I started gaining an appreciation for the maintenance side of aviation; I wanted to better understand the machines I was flying. I started spending some time around my flight school’s maintenance shop and asking the engineers a wide variety of questions. Their patience and eagerness to answer my various questions helped inspire me to come to the decision to pursue a career in aviation maintenance. I started looking for a job as an apprentice, and from there I found Keewatin Air and the Aircraft Maintenance Journeyperson program at Red River College.

What is your favourite part of the job?

I love that this job is very hands on, and that I am learning something new every day. I get to work on and around the machines that I love. Through this job, I had the opportunity to move to Yellowknife, which is in my opinion one of the most beautiful areas of this country.

Do you have any future goals in aviation?

I plan on obtaining a small project aircraft with my husband to fix up so that we can fly it. My long term goal is just to be as involved with aviation as I can be.

What do you do in your spare time?

• Watch aviation related videos and documentaries (I also love watching videos of STOL competitions)
• Fly and help maintain my own small aircraft
• Watch movies (I am a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe)

What are some of the ways to help other women get involved in aviation?

The more women we see in aviation, the more young women (or women in general) will have role models to look to and see careers in aviation as something that is achievable. Representation is important.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-instagram” align=”right” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fwinging_away%2F|title:Follow%20Tara%20on%20Instagram|target:%20_blank|”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Follow Tara on Instagram

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