While women have made great strides in a variety of careers and industries, there is still a gender gap when it comes to female aviators. Tallahassee business partners Lacey Smith and Faith Drewry — cofounders of FL Aviation Center — think today’s women need to see more of their contemporaries making a real, viable, everyday career in aviation.

Adjacent to Northwest Florida’s major airports and tucked in smaller, out-of-the way airfields, fixed base operators are a boost to the region’s economy by helping to keep private planes flying — including those owned by visitors who might be taking a jaunt to the coast for lunch or dinner or to Tallahassee for a legislative hearing. But their major product isn’t necessarily fuel. It’s more to do with customer service — and rolling out the red carpet for visitors who could bring future business to the area.