Oklahoma City, USA — Tickets are now available for the 2025 Oklahoma Women in Aviation and Aerospace Day, a major annual celebration of the state’s aviation heritage and women’s achievements in the sector. The event will be held at 11am on Friday, 12 December 2025, at AAR Corporation’s new Hangar 4 facility on the Will Rogers World Airport campus in Oklahoma City.
Presented by the aerospace legacy, AAR Corporation, this year’s gathering marks a century of Oklahoma’s aviation history and promises to be the largest celebration to date. The occasion will feature keynote speaker Amelia Rose Earhart, with Col. Dawn Zoldi serving as celebrity emcee. Organisers say the event will “celebrate a century of aviation history with style and elegance” as it welcomes guests, community partners, and aviation students for what they describe as “one astronomical aviation extravaganza”.
New Hangar Venue and Industry Collaboration
The 2025 edition of the event will be staged in AAR’s newly completed three-bay 737 hangar, developed through collaboration with JE Dunn, the Oklahoma City Airport Trust, and the Oklahoma Aerospace Foundation. According to organisers, the impressive venue provides a fitting backdrop for a programme designed to inspire and recognise excellence across the aerospace community.
Past editions of the event have featured a distinguished roster of keynote speakers, including Col. Nicole Malachowski, Col. Eileen Collins, Major Heather Penny, Wally Funk, and Rear Admiral Peg Klein. Previous emcees have included Kellie Hudson, John Herrington, and Jake Rademacher, reflecting the event’s status as one of the state’s premier aviation celebrations.
Partnership with The Ninety-Nines International
This year, the organisers have also announced a new partnership with The Ninety-Nines International, the historic women pilots’ organisation founded by Amelia Earhart and headquartered in Oklahoma City. “We will salute the ladies of the flying generation as we pay tribute to the remarkable legacy of Amelia Earhart and celebrate the grit and grace of the Golden Age of flight and the aviators that followed,” organisers said.
The 2025 event takes a broader perspective on the “humanity and boldness of the individuals in the aerospace and defence industry”, highlighting Oklahoma’s century-long contribution to aviation.
Honouring Hatbox Field and Aviation Pioneers
The milestone year marks 100 years since 1925, when Amelia Earhart landed at Hatbox Field in Muskogee, Oklahoma, then a newly established aviation site that went on to serve as the state’s first army airfield.
To commemorate this history, a special tribute to Hatbox Field will be included in the programme. The airfield, which operated from the 1920s until 2000, originally functioned as a flying circus and demonstration site before taking on military and training roles. Attendees are encouraged to “wear hats in homage to the greatest generations of pilots who landed at Hatbox Field, as well as to the aircraft technicians who kept the planes flying”. In addition, “pearls are traditionally worn in honour of Pearl Carter Scott”.
Legislative Recognition and Lasting Legacy
The Oklahoma Women in Aviation and Aerospace Day has its origins in legislation introduced by the Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics in 2017. The bill, Senate Bill 230, was enacted to formally recognise the contributions of women in the state’s aviation and aerospace industry, designating 9 December each year as Oklahoma Women in Aviation and Aerospace Day.
The date honours Pearl Carter Scott, the pioneering Chickasaw aviator from Marlow, Oklahoma, who learned to fly at age 13 under the mentorship of legendary aviator Wiley Post. Scott became the youngest pilot in the United States when she completed her first solo flight on 12 September 1929, the same year Amelia Earhart founded The Ninety-Nines.
Looking Ahead to Oklahoma’s Next Century of Flight
As Oklahoma prepares to mark one hundred years of flight, the 2025 event offers a symbolic bridge between the state’s storied past and its modern aerospace future. With industry leaders, educators, and aspiring aviators gathering under one roof, organisers expect the event to serve as both an inspiration and a showcase of the state’s enduring innovation.
Tickets for the Oklahoma Women in Aviation and Aerospace Day are now available.
:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/CVVSIEIJMFCSFJL7HDLC4DZMWI.png "Google Maps has this secret to rotate the map and find the best route")
