Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week: Lcol (Retd) Maryse Carmichael

Women Of Aviation Worldwide Week is a global outreach initiative that takes place annually during the week of March 8, the anniversary  of the world’s first female pilot license. Lcol (Retd) Maryse Carmichael, CD, Honorary President of the Air Cadet League of Canada, is an exemplary female role model. Read on to find out more about her outstanding acheivements!

 

Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Maryse Carmichael, CD has been fascinated by aviation for as long as she can remember.  At a young age, she followed in her three brothers’ footsteps and joined the Royal Canadian Air Cadets with 630 Squadron in Quebec City.  At 16 years of age, she was awarded a gliding scholarship and was able to realize her dream of flying.

 

Lcol (Retd) Carmichael continued her aviation adventures as a military pilot when she joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1990.  Throughout her 22-year career, she accumulated over 3,500 hours on three different aircrafts: the Tutor, the Challenger and the Hercules.

 

In November 2000, Lcol (Retd) Carmichael made history when she was selected, after a grueling competition, to fly with 431 Air Demonstration Squadron, the Canadian Armed Forces’ Snowbirds. She was the Snowbird’s first female pilot and the first female pilot in the world to fly with a Jet Demonstration Team.

 

In 2015, Lcol (Retd) Carmichael featured in the Women Executive Network’s Top 100 of Canada’s Most Powerful Women and in 2013, she received the Elsie MacGil Northern Lights Award. She is now the Honorary President of the Air Cadet League of Canada and works at CAE as the Canada Region Communication and Government Relations Manager.