On March 10, Dassault Aviation hosted more than 400 of its coterie of family and friends for the unveiling of the Falcon 10X ultra long-range jet on a hangar stage at the Bordeaux-Mérignac Airport in France.
After briefings at Le Méridian in Paris, we flew to Bordeaux for the big reveal, which I reported on for AvBrief.com. First, take a read through the teaser in AvBrief, and then the go to the main feature for the full story, including a lot of specs and pics of the phenomenal airplane.
There’s always an unexpectedly emotional moment within words delivered by the featured speakers at the Women in Aviation International Conference, and my first tears this morning came during the presentation of the colors.
We have friends, family, colleagues in harm’s way right now, and their service must be honored. This integrity and leadership have already become themes at WAI 2026, and we’re barely halfway through the first day.
With 20,000 members spanning 112 countries, these days WAI has earned the international part of its name, though almost 92% of the membership hails from the U.S. or its territories. More than 5,000 people are expected at the conference this year, and by midday on Thursday almost 4,000 had come through the doors at the Gaylord Texan Conference Center in Grapevine, Texas.
WAI CEO Lynda Coffman is entering her third year at the helm, coming out of retirement after decades of leadership roles at United Airlines. That time has been focused on restoring the organization’s financial health, and in a large part, she has led the team to a steadier course, now earning a 4 star rating from Charity Navigator, its highest.
Building cash reserves continues, so that the organization will be able to better withstand the inevitable headwinds—Coffman called out COVID specifically—and fully fund its programming for the growth ahead.
Part of that growth steers WAI back towards its high-water marks in scholarship monies granted. While not yet near the $900K years around 2006, the $530,000 scholarships in 2025 and $610,000 scholarships to be bestowed this year show the strength and resilience of the industry.
WAI CEO Lynda Coffman spent decades of her career at United Airlines in a number of leadership roles before coming out of retirement to lead Women in Aviation International. [Credit: Julie Boatman]
International programs take on focus too, under Coffman’s tenure. Case in point, International Girls in Aviation Day (GIAD) hosted 40,000 girls in 30 countries in 2025, and the addition of International Ambassadors brought WAI to the Dubai Airshow, among other engagements centering opportunities for women around the world.
Very exciting to me: the introduction of the Global Access Program, which Coffman announced during her opening remarks. Launching on April 1, GAP fills a serious one for women and young ladies in economically challenged regions, with adjusted individual and chapter dues for those wanting to participate. Yes, the $49 dues can feel insurmountable when you’re trying to put food on the table, but dreams should not suffer. The 2026 seed funding for the GAP came from the current WAI Board of Directors and their personal donations to lift the program off the ground.
2026 sees the 50th anniversary of the Women Military Aviators association, honoring their service. Also, WAI has introduced two new awards, the Spirit of Service going to Liz Booker, Literary Aviatrix, and the Mentor of the Year to ERAU professor Samantha Bowyer.
USAF Thunderbird Nicole Malachowski gives a shout out to her “she-roes” in the audience at WAI 26. [Credit: Julie Boatman]
Nicole Malachowski Inspires
In a keynote at least in part responsible for the full-to-the-brim general session on Thursday morning, Col. Nicole Malachowski (USAF, ret.) gave us more on integrity and leadership with the story of her path to the cockpit of the F-15E as a Thunderbird.
“I knew I was too short to be a showgirl, so I went with Plan B and became a fighter pilot,” said Malachowski about her childhood in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Just six pilots get to selected to join the illustrious demo team in any given year; Malachowski was picked in 2005.
So it’s not a surprise, really, that my second emotional moment came during Nicole’s talk about her favorite part of being a Thunderbird: the autograph line that assembled for her that was 2 to 3 times longer than the lines for the other pilots. The reason? It would be full of young women, 8-21 years old, who came to see someone who looked like them doing what she did.
Her stories backed up the key takeaways she gave us:
Choose an unscripted life.
Believe those who believe in you.
Breaking barriers requires integrity… you must maintain fidelity to who you truly are.
A powerful quote from F-15E pilot and Air Force Thunderbird Nicole Malachowski at WAI 26. [Credit: Julie Boatman]
The comment period closed on Friday, March 13, on a letter that solicited “concepts for the efficient and cost-effective operations and management of atmospheric observational platforms, cyberinfrastructure and computing capabilities, and community training on weather and space weather modeling and forecasting” for the National Science Foundation. Specifically, the letter targets operations at the NSF’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), located in Boulder, Colorado.
So I’m a little late on this post if you thought for a moment that your feedback would alter the fate of NCAR in any way. Here’s hoping some greater scientific minds than mine have put their two cents in.
NCAR, as it has been operating since 1960, has offered a unique position at the intersection of meteorology, hydrology, solar physics, atmospheric chemistry, machine learning science, oceanography, cryospheric science, engineering, and education. It treats the Earth as a single yet vastly integrated system, and puts the hundreds of scientists who work at the lab and in associated locations into a nexus where they can naturally collaborate in a cross-disciplinary manner.
The center has focused on four areas of critical importance to our healthy existence and economic viability on the planet:
Severe weather
Water cycle
Sun & space weather
Air quality
Its perch on the ledge of the Flatirons overlooking the Boulder Valley in Colorado means that those scientists go to work every day in a location where those areas are not abstract but immediate concerns. The building itself, designed by I.M. Pei, inspires higher thought, and the miles of trails interlinking across the mesa offer active contemplation (via a lunchtime run or hike) for not only the folks who work there but also the community at large.
I’ve personally logged hundreds of miles there during my time living in Boulder County, with pups as companions (including the Fabulous Fred, pictured above on a hike 14 years ago this month on an NCAR trail). There are few places like it, where you can be both within the folds of the foothills and consider the great plains stretching east. You can see a hundred miles in each direction on many days of the year, and watch the weather unfold as it tumbles over the Rockies on its way downstream. Location matters, and grounds the science in everyday reality.
However, the wording of the letter makes it clear that the building itself is at risk along with the unique opportunity those scientists have had to come together over the decades. The missive solicits private or public use of the building… to what end better than it already does?
My relationship with NCAR intersects in other ways: There have been several scientists who were also pilots who I flew with and taught over the years. And air quality projects that make use of the location included in the late 1990s air sampling missions that I participated in as a young flight instructor. Flying a Cessna TR182 equipped with data collection and recording devices up to the flight levels (the low ones), we’d run racetracks at each altitude on the way back down to the Boulder Airport (then 1V5, now KBDU). Now a Gulfstream GV does similar work, but it may not for long, as the letter notes those aircraft may been discharged and the missions put to other aircraft in the future.
When high winds threaten the Front Range (which they do even more regularly now than when I was an undergrad), NCAR’s forecasting informs the population ahead of time. Following the devastating Marshall Fire on December 30, 2021, the power company Xcel Energy now preemptively shuts down power when these intense mountain wave winds are predicted.
I studied mountain wave activity while a student at the University of Colorado, in an aviation meteorology class also tied into the work of our local NCAR and UCAR scientists. That understanding, watching the wave rip rotor clouds into shreds at the foot of those mountains from the ramp at the Boulder Airport, has helped me both teach meteorology to my own students and assess micro and macro weather conditions as I’ve flown across the country. NCAR’s contributions to the study and mitigation of the effects of microbursts on aviation have been profound and lifesaving.
Yes, I feel a personal hit when I think of the Boulder community losing NCAR, and the effect that loss will have when its mission is broken into pieces because it fell into the cross-hairs of an administration bent on restructuring and retribution.
Maybe there’s still time to fight for science, for both our aviation family and our world.
