How Island Sotheby's International Realty's Anita White advances Maui aviation

Posted by Mapuana Andrade on Tuesday, November 26th, 2019 at 8:17am

Contributed photo of Anita White and her husband.

Pilot and Island Sotheby's International Realty agent Anita White has been involved with aviation and real estate since 1986. Her real estate career began in Mexico, before she moved to Maui in 1989 to earn her real estate license.

It didn’t take long for her passion for flight to take over. After a year and a half in real estate, she left for flight school, eventually becoming a flight instructor and Big Island Volcano tour pilot.

Yet a decade later, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 spurred her to make the switch from full-time commercial pilot to full-time real estate associate, specializing in oceanfront property on Maui's west coast. “Now I'm known as the Aviator Agent because I combine both my love of flying and real estate," she explained. 

But that’s not all she’s known for. Earlier this month, White was featured in the Maui News for her efforts in starting the Maui Chapter of the 99s — the local chapter of the Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots, which promotes the advancement of aviation through education, scholarships and mutual support while honoring women’s history and passion for flight.

The column, titled "Realtors help others reach for the sky," focused on White’s efforts to help with Maui’s Girl Scouts Aviation Day, held earlier this year to give girls the opportunity to earn their aviation merit badges. 

 “I really enjoy it,” White said in the column. “It’s a great way to pay it forward.”

It was White’s fifth time participating in the event, where White and other female pilots from their nonprofit taught Girl Scouts the physics behind flight, through demonstrations ranging from paper airplane building to lifting ping-pong balls with the help of a hair dryer, the Maui News column reported. 

The event came after earlier this year, White, with the help of six other female pilots, started the Maui Chapter of the 99s. Its parent organization was founded by 99 women in 1929, which today boasts more than 150 chapters across the nation and Canada, in addition to more than a dozen other groups located across five continents. Made up of professional female pilots for airlines, industry and government, the group’s mission is to promote the advancement of aviation through education, scholarships and support. 

“We are pilots who teach and pilots who fly for pleasure; we are pilots who are technicians and mechanics,” its website reads. “But first and foremost, we are women who love to fly!”

On Maui, the chapter meets monthly at the airport to discuss and plan ways to improve the lives of the island’s women pilots. They also are involved in a number of educational events, including STEM fests on Maui and across the state. To find out how you can get involved and help support her efforts, visit Maui99s.com

 

 

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