BETA Technologies partners with Vermont Technical College to launch provisional chapter of Women in Aviation International

Ver­mont Tech­ni­cal Col­lege has launched a pro­vi­sion­al chap­ter of Women in Avi­a­tion Inter­na­tion­al, in part­ner­ship with Beta Tech­nolo­gies and Ver­mont Flight Acad­e­my, to pro­vide a pro­fes­sion­al net­work­ing space to stu­dents and grad­u­ates of its Pro­fes­sion­al Pilot Tech­nol­o­gy Pro­gram. 

The Ver­mont chap­ter is open to any­one inter­est­ed in the field of avi­a­tion, from high school stu­dents to pro­fes­sion­als in roles rang­ing from pilots to flight instruc­tors, aero­nau­ti­cal mechan­ics, and aero­nau­ti­cal engi­neers.

“We are excit­ed to open up more oppor­tu­ni­ties for women look­ing to pur­sue a career in the air­line indus­try,” said Robin Guil­lian, pro­gram direc­tor for the Pro­fes­sion­al Pilot Tech­nol­o­gy Pro­gram at Ver­mont Tech and a for­mer air­line pilot. 

“Now, if you are a Ver­mont girl into air­planes and you want to fly with a woman, you can find a con­nec­tion to do that.”

Willa Clark, team mem­ber at BETA Tech­nolo­gies and found­ing mem­ber of the chap­ter, said: “Fly­ing helps devel­op a real­ly mean­ing­ful skill set, whether it’s for grow­ing con­fi­dence, hav­ing fun, or build­ing a career.

“At BETA, we always try to cre­ate new oppor­tu­ni­ties, so it’s excit­ing to be part of cre­at­ing this chap­ter to encour­age more women to pur­sue avi­a­tion.”

The Ver­mont chap­ter will pro­vide men­tor­ing, schol­ar­ships, pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties, and net­work­ing events in-per­son and vir­tu­al­ly, with a mem­ber­ship cost of $35 for stu­dents, $45 for oth­er mem­bers, and chap­ter dues of $15. 

The chap­ter is plan­ning its first social gath­er­ing at a hangar space in the spring of 2022 and has plans to attend a nation­al con­fer­ence and upcom­ing air shows.

Ver­mont Tech has brought in an avi­a­tion sim­u­la­tor for many events, such as a Women in Avi­a­tion Week, host­ed a flight sim­u­la­tor expe­ri­ence for sixth graders, an aero camp, and part­nered with Burling­ton High School to host a 10-day avi­a­tion immer­sion expe­ri­ence for high school stu­dents.

Ver­mont Tech­ni­cal Col­lege has grad­u­at­ed 47 indi­vid­u­als from the Pro­fes­sion­al Pilot Tech­nol­o­gy Pro­gram since its incep­tion in 2016, six of whom iden­ti­fy as women, with stu­dents who grad­u­ate from the pro­gram typ­i­cal­ly being hired as air­line pilots with­in six months of grad­u­a­tion. 

Last week, BETA Tech­nolo­gies raised $375 mil­lion in an over­sub­scribed Series B financ­ing round, led by TPG Rise Cli­mate and Fideli­ty Man­age­ment & Research Com­pa­ny.

This fund­ing will sup­port the advance­ment of BETA’s inte­grat­ed elec­tric avi­a­tion sys­tem, includ­ing its zero emis­sions air­craft, elec­tric propul­sion sys­tems and its nation­wide mul­ti­modal charg­ing infra­struc­ture.

In March, two US Air Force pilots flew BETA Tech­nolo­gies’ ALIA eVTOL air­craft in what is described as the first-ever manned demo flight with an Agili­ty Prime part­ner at BETA’s hangar and test­ing facil­i­ty in Platts­burgh, New York — locat­ed 35 miles from its South Burling­ton, Ver­mont head­quar­ters.