2012 is the year of the “H”.

Harriet Quimby lands in France after flying over the English Channel in a Blériot airplane

Indeed, in the spring of 1912, Harriet Quimby took off from Dover and flew across the English Channel, an arm of the Atlantic ocean, to land on the beach of Hardelot Plage in the Pas de Calais. She became woman to fly across the English Channel in an airplane. To celebrate her achievement, the Women Of Aviation Worldwide are recreating her flight on March 10, 2012. Learn more about the “Across the Channel: Women Unifying Nations“.

Hélène Dutrieu pilots a Farman seaplane

Later in the same year, Hélène Dutrieu took off at the controls of a Farman seaplane. She became the first woman to fly a seaplane worldwide. The first powered seaplane flight, a design by Henri Fabre called Le Canard, had taken place just two years earlier in March 1910. To celebrate the centennial of her achievement, we are asking seaplane pilots around the world to introduce a record number of girls and women to fly seaplanes.