Terri Super has been named one of this year's recipients for the Elsie MacGill Trailblazer Award, given each year to Canadian women who have made a difference in the field of aviation.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
For her decades of experience and contributions to the world of aviation, Medicine Hat’s Terri Super has been awarded the 2024 Elsie MacGill Trailblazer Award.
The award is one of eight handed out by the Northern Lights Aero Foundation each year to celebrate and honour outstanding women in aviation and aerospace in Canada, with the goal of motivating and inspiring other women to pursue opportunities in these industries.
Named after Elsie MacGill, a Canadian woman who is acknowledged to have been the first female aircraft designer in the world, the award was nevertheless a surprise for Super.
She remarked with good humour that being called a trailblazer made her feel older.
“A woman that has been in aviation as long as I have, could be considered a trailblazer for females in aviation,” said Super. She continued that she was surprised and humbled to hear of her nomination, and even more so to receive it.
“I start thinking of all the things I’ve done, and then I get a little nostalgic, but I really think it’s great. I was not anticipating anything like this, it kind of just came out of the woodwork,” said Super.
Super explained she has been a pilot since 1979 when she almost immediately “got the bug” and fell in love with flying and the field of aviation despite her initial fear of it.
“I was basically afraid of flying but saw it as a way of escaping Alberta back to my home state of Iowa,” said Super. “And it is something that once you kind of get the bug, it’s very addicting, the aviation career.”
Super and her husband, fellow pilot Les Little, would later decide to open Super T Aviation upon finding out that their initial company, Bar XH Air, was sold to someone intending to close the flight school they had attached.
“Infamously I said to Les, ‘How much trouble can a little flight school be’,” said Super. When the school opened in 2008, it began in the original building Bar XH Air started out in, but has since moved into a significantly larger space that includes a state-of-the-art hangar/office complex; a simulator/briefing complex; a student housing complex, two flight training devices, among others.
The school has taken off significantly, and continues to grow and improve while striving for excellence for students.
With all this in mind, said Super, it feels nice to be recognized by her peers for her contributions and work, and to be called a trailblazer in the field. While she notes that aviation remains a male-dominated field, more and more young women are considering it as a career.
“My advice to young women looking for something different and definitely challenging is to consider a career in aviation,” said Super, who said she’s found many of her female students have a natural talent for flying. “It is hard work, but the young female of today is up to the challenge.”
