Aviation organizations recognize the importance of investing in the future of aviation by offering scholarships. Each month, AOPA covers new scholarships that are open to applicants and highlights success stories of past scholarship winners. Share these opportunities with those you know who are in training for an aviation-related field.
Scholarship opportunities
Members of Women in Corporate Aviation (WCA), along with 12 corporate aviation companies, have donated more than $100,000 to the organization’s fall scholarship fund. Available scholarships include $22,000 from CAE SimuFlite for Citation Jet 3 type rating training, $27,600 from FlightSafety International for type rating training in a Cessna Citation XL or Citation XLS, and three awards of $3,000 each from Universal Weather and Aviation for dispatcher certification training. The deadline to apply is Aug. 1, and winners will be notified on Sept. 7.
The AOPA Foundation has added another flight training scholarship in 2014 to help support outstanding student pilots. Aspiring sport, recreational, or private pilots now have the chance to apply for 10 $5,000 scholarships and one $12,000 scholarship. The deadline to apply is Aug. 22 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
ForeFlight will award two $7,500 scholarships through the Experimental Aircraft Association for those pursuing their private pilot certificates. Applicants are required to write a 500-word essay or a video on the topic, “How I will use my license to fly.” Submissions are due by June 30, and the winners will be announced at EAA AirVenture 2014.
The Ninety-Nines and the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) will award a $3,000 Karen Johnson Solo Scholarship to help a young woman between the age of 16 and 20 with flight training through the first solo and beyond. The scholarship will be awarded during the WomenVenture activities at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., on July 30. Applications are due by July 10.
Aerosim Flight Academy is offering the chance to win a scholarship of up to a $10,000 for flight training under its Future Pilot Scholarship program. Students who complete the private, instrument, and commercial multiengine certificates and ratings through the Professional Pilot Program can receive a $10,000 scholarship. Those who complete their instrument and multiengine ratings and commercial certificate through the Professional Pilot Track can receive $7,500, and those who complete their private and commercial pilot certificates and instrument and multiengine ratings through the Commercial Pilot Program can receive $5,000. Contact Aerosim at 800/U-CAN-FLY for more information.
Scholarship Winners
Lauren Prox, one of six winners of a Girls With Wings Dreams Take Flight scholarship, says she was inspired after taking a Young Eagles flight as a sophomore in high school.
“I did a flight out of Newport News International Airport,” said Prox. “After receiving a book on aviation and a flight certificate, I was determined to get more flight time.” She did another flight a week later, and then took another one the following month.
Prox attends Denbigh High School’s Aviation Academy in Newport News. She found out about the Girls With Wings scholarship via a Google search. “I plan on starting my flight lessons as soon as the school year is over,” she said. “One of my teachers is also a CFI, and he’s ready to help me.” Currently in the eleventh grade, she hopes to get her private pilot certificate before her freshman year of college.
“I would like to become an aerospace physician because I have an aviation background and an interest in medicine, and this career is the perfect middle man,” said Prox. “So I’m really thankful for the scholarship. I’m a Girl Scout, and for my gold award, I taught youth about opportunities in aviation and aerospace. Quite a few of them have already been on a Young Eagles flight.”
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) has awarded two $2,000 scholarships to a high school and college student. Cara Baldwin of Morgantown High School in Morgantown, W.Va., won the Edward W. Stimpson Aviation Excellence Award, given to a graduating high school senior who has been accepted to and will be enrolled in an aviation degree core program at a university or college. Baldwin will attend at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla, where she will study aeronautical sciences. Alex Kwiatkowski of Lewis University won the Dr. Harold S. Wood Award for Excellence, given to a college student who is a flight team member at a National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) member school. He is a junior majoring in aviation flight management and minoring in both aircraft dispatch and business administration and has his private pilot certificate with an instrument rating.
The National Air Transportation Foundation (NATF) has named the winners of three aviation scholarships. Tyler Wilson, a student at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, is the recipient of the Dan L. Meisinger Sr. Memorial Learn to Fly Scholarship. Alovia Dudek, a student at the Portland Community College in Oregon, has won the Pioneers of Flight Scholarship. Shane Fisher, a student at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Mich., is the recipient of the 2014 Richard L. Taylor Flight Training Scholarship. Brian Nissel, a student at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics at the Hagerstown, Md., campus and an employee of Aero-Smith Inc. in Martinsburg, W.Va., won the NATA Business Scholarship.
The Experimental Aircraft Association has awarded its Tubreaux Aviation Flight Training Scholarship to Matthew Callahan, an 18-year-old high school senior from Bellevue, Neb. The scholarship includes lodging and transportation to and from Shreveport, La.’s Downtown Airport, where he will learn to fly at Tubreaux Aviation.
Nevada’s Minden Soaring Club has awarded eight scholarships of $1,000 each to local youth to help them finance their flight and ground instruction in preparation for obtaining a private pilot certificate in a glider. The scholarships went to those who had already started their training or showed an interest in flying gliders.
Scholarship roundup
Deadlines are quickly approaching for these scholarships.
June 15 -- LadiesLoveTaildraggers tailwheel endorsement scholarship
July 1 -- Wings Over Houston Airshow scholarships
Aug. 22 -- AOPA Flight Training Scholarships
