The RIAT 2024 themes were 50 years of the F-16; 75^th anniversary of NATO and 100^th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

But how about another theme – smashing stereotypes in aviation?  As it seems women are now taking on roles normally attributed to men in the aviation industry.

One of the VIP guests at RIAT was Jessica Gagen, who holds the title of Miss United Kingdom, but she is not just a beautiful face. She’s also an Aerospace Engineer, Ambassador for National Numeracy and STEM. She was invited to speak at the airshow about STEM and how it can inspire the next generation of female scientists, engineers and pilots.

Floortje van den Heuval is a Cloud Physicist, who was on the British Antarctic Survey at Rothera Research Station in the Antarctic Delta in 2022. She flew on the Twin Otter aircraft, which was fitted with skis for ice-landings and with scientific equipment to make cloud images via lasers probing ice crystals. Floortje, who has a PhD in polarimetric weather radar and an MSc in Environmental Sciences, is planning to return to Antarctica in November.

To celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), there was a dedicated ground area at RIAT to showcase modern RCAF assets and historic aircraft. With new graphics, the CF-18 aircraft provided the backdrop for the six-man and one-woman crew of the Canadian CF-18 Demo Team: Captain Christine MacNeil, Public Affairs Officer/Narrator posing alongside Alex Racine; Etienne Allard; Xavier Mailhot; Dany Sansoucy; Safety Pilot, Jean-Luc Volodensky, aka Picard after Star Trek’s Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Caleb ‘Tango’ Robert.