Great article on “Carrying the Flag” (“Flying Carpet: Carrying the Flag,” February 2012 Flight Training). I agree that the majority of African-American kids and adults feel that being a pilot is something they cannot achieve. I began flying in 1987, and I am one of only two black flight instructors in Nebraska. Over the past two years, the flight school where I instruct has been working with the public school system and community action programs to get minorities involved in aviation. Our program gets them to realize there is a world outside of TV, video games, and their own neighborhood. This is a virtually untapped resource to replenish the waning pilot numbers.
Jerome Howard
Omaha, Nebraska
I just want to say thank you to Greg Brown for the article “Carrying the Flag.” I too am a minority pilot flying IFR with an extended history of starting and stopping training. It is partially because of money, but also some bad instructors. I finally finished a few years ago and fly every month, taking the kids shopping and the $100 hamburger thing. As a single parent it’s an outlet and an inspiration to show others what I have done with more roadblocks than others. All a person has to do is never take no for an answer and don’t give up.
Gary Broderick
Springfield, Missouri
I read with great enthusiasm Greg Brown’s article on DeAndre Jamison. He mentioned the lack of minority pilots and especially African-American female pilots. I just wanted to inform you that I am an African-American female pilot and CFI. I own my own airplane—a Beechcraft Sierra—and live on a private airport in South Carolina. I was the first African- American female CFI in Texas, and the first to compete in the all-women’s Air Race Classic. You were right, there are far too few of us, but we do exist.
Belinda Smith-Sullivan
Trenton, South Carolina
I did some research a few years ago on the Tuskegee mechanics. They didn’t get much recognition at all, even though they were all Tuskegee Airmen, too. I was dismayed when I interviewed these elderly gentleman to learn that after the war they all tried to get jobs with the airlines and in aviation, but were turned down for racial reasons. So, consequently, their sons and daughters weren’t encouraged to get into aviation. How different the aviation scene would be if they had been welcomed with open arms.
Matt Thurber
Marina Del Ray, California
Nordo
There is a lesson to be learned from the story “A Loud Bang” (December 2011 Flight Training), and I think you missed the mark. This is 2012 and there is no excuse to be flying with no radio. A handheld radio costs about $400. Apparently the pilots involved do not value the lives of themselves and others to be worth $400. They are so caught up in the mystique of nontowered airports and nonradio aircraft, and “don’t tell me how to live my life” attitude, that they ignored simple, inexpensive preventive measures. Nontowered airports in Oregon such as Aurora, Independence, and Madras are very busy places, indeed. We’d all be much safer if everyone used a radio.
Barbara Anderson
Salem, Oregon
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