Right Seat: Build a Future

Kids these days. Am I right? They’re lazy. They just want to sit and play video games. And worst of all, they’re entitled.

There’s a prevailing feeling among pilots that the “next generation” simply doesn’t have the interest—and the implication is the aptitude—to care about flying.But that narrative is all wrong. Generally speaking, the youth of America are engaged, creative, motivated, and unquestionably capable.

Polk County, Florida, has one of the country’s highest rates of suburban poverty. More than a quarter of the county’s children live in households where the parents don’t have the resources to adequately feed their families. It’s in that environment that James Ray, a generous benefactor and World War II pilot, saw what many didn’t and funded the construction of the Central Florida Aerospace Academy (CFAA) and its associated Lakeland Aero Club.

CFAA is a public school, and admission is open to any student in the county. As such, the school reflects the diverse racial and socioeconomic makeup of the area. Students study an aerospace science, technology, engineering, and math curriculum during the day, and if they remain good students, get a chance to put that theory to practice at the Aero Club in the afternoon and on weekends.

The youth of America are engaged, creative, motivated,and unquestionably capable.The school boasts a 100-percent graduation rate; the club has produced upwards of 60 pilots; and most impressive, the students have restored a Piper Cub from the ground up, among other refurbishment projects.

At this year’s Sun ’n Fun airshow the students were showing off their incredible achievements, and hard at work on their latest projects. The week prior to the show two students had traveled to Redbird in Austin, Texas, to learn how to assemble a full-motion FMX. That’s how freshman Sean Stoltz and sophomore Katie Esker found themselves as both foremen and apprentices on a roughly $100,000 device.

They ran the build like experts, teaching and mentoring other students through the more than 100 steps. Occasionally an adult would come by to see how things were going, but mainly the kids were left to do the work completely on their own. Redbird didn’t even send out an installer for assistance.

Esker was chosen for the Redbird build in part because of her success on another Aero Club project. A local pilot had donated a motorglider kit and Esker dove in to the construction—despite having never built models, tinkered around the house with her parents, or developed any other skills that would have prepared her. She said she sort of knew the names of the tools. “I just try to say yes to everything I can,” she said.

No one in Esker’s family is a pilot. Her first exposure to aviation came through a summer camp at the airport. Esker chose CFAA over a local magnet school for dancers (did I mention she’s an accomplished dancer?) because she thought the career prospects were better in aerospace. And she’s not yet old enough to drive—or solo an airplane, for that matter.

Stoltz had a bit more of a built-in support system. His father flies for Netjets and the family owns an Aerona Champ. But a club adviser said Stoltz works hard on the motorglider, and helps at a maintenance shop across the airport.

Esker and Stoltz are just two examples. We see hundreds more each year as part of our high school scholarship program, an effort of AOPA’s High School Initiative. The High School Initiative supports schools such as CFAA and is one of four programs that make up You Can Fly, AOPA’s effort to grow the pilot population.

The “kids these days” are driven to bring aviation through the next decades. Let’s help them succeed.