FlyDonna is an international outreach event founded by the driving force of Donatella Ricci. ‘Flydonna’ is designed to raise awareness of aviation opportunities available to girls/ladies of all ages, to promote women as an important asset and economic force beneficial for air and space industry, to foster gender equality and inclusion in communities and working environments. Attending this Flydonna edition are World record aviators and pioneers in their specialties: nearly astronaut, pilot Donatella Ricci, WeFly!Team, pilots with disabilities, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. The two-day-event hosted in Italy in lively ambience of flight club Papere Vagabonde Caposile airfield near Venice, is the result of Donatella’s intent to create a space for international networking among past, present and future ladies in aviation and aerospace industry. The location is a fully accessible airstrip nearby one the many enchanting Unesco World Heritage sites in Italy.
Program manager at Leonardo helicopter division, Donatella Ricci is also author, speaker and pilot of hot-air balloon, helicopter, lightweight aircrafts which include Magni gyroplane, designed and manufactured in Italy. Standard gyroplanes usually fly at altitudes around 12.000ft/3.658m, yet as of November 2015 Donatella Ricci is gyroplane world altitude record holder with 27.556 ft/8.399 m, improving the record previously established by American pilot Andrew Keech in 2004. Donatella conveys the beauty of flying and a sense of belonging to a world where there could be no boundaries.
Guest of honor, Italian Air Force Captain, Esa astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. With her stunning imagery and views and vivid memories of her mission in space on board the International Space Station, Cristoforetti makes everyone relive her extraordinary experience, shares the importance of cultivating universal values and perspectives.
Italian Armed Forces ladies pilot officers, parachuters and two generations of ladies pilot and aviation professionals, have come from all over Europe to celebrate the recurring event, Cristoforetti’s life-long achievements, Donatella’s accomplishments, and WeFly!Team inspiring undertakings.
Special participant guests, WeFly!Team, the only aerobatic team in the world composed by two pilots with disabilities in a team of three, Alessandro Paleri and Marco Cherubini. With aerospace engineering abilities they customize the planes they fly to pilot by use of hands. Trainer, Papere Vagabonde’s President Erich Kustatscher, prestigious life-long career in aviation and pioneer of ultra lightweight flight in Italy, pilot of ultralight planes and helicopters. Official PR Pino Di Feo, journalist Askanews_Italy, and aviation photographer Marco Tricarico. On the ground and in the air, they convey a sense of passion, energy and incredible abilities.
Pilots’ and flight club’s have long-time advocacy for raising social inclusion awareness for under-represented groups. Together with institutions with broadening philosophies and systems, wide-ranging diversity policies, and charismatic personalities, carried out the international joined initiative ‘Dare To Fly‘ supported by Italian Space Agency, Italian Air Force, European Space Agency, Esa astronaut Cristoforetti. The initiative reached out internationally with Cristoforetti on board the International Space Station, and celebrated at FlyDonna upon and as well as Cristoforetti’s return from space.
Diverse abilities, interests and aspiration. At Flydonna every single story carries experiences supported by the desire to travel in the air, and each one has its unique environment, method, purpose. Stories of visited countries and the ones that will be next, amused conversations on how things have changed since they first started. Places to visit when traveling, where to find the favorite local specialties; how flying is becoming, also culturally, accessible to a wider spectrum of participants, thus making the industry and market evolve accordingly. These are a few reasons that brought Flydonna an occasion to mark on the calendar through the years.
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