Preflight news

You Can Fly receives grant

American airlines awards $100,000

By Dan Namowitz

AOPA’s You Can Fly program received a flight education grant from American Airlines that will have a “substantial impact” on the association’s work to help students discover a passion for flight and prepare for a career in aviation.

American Airlines announced the 10 recipients of awards totaling $313,000 from its flight education grant program in a ceremony at the C.R. Smith Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, in January. The awards, including a $100,000 grant to the AOPA You Can Fly program, went to “schools and organizations working to grow and diversify the pilot population,” the airline said.

“Of the nearly 600 organizations we invited to participate in our program, these 10 stood out with innovative ideas on growing and diversifying the pilot career path and creating opportunities for those who may not otherwise have the chance to learn,” said Capt. David Tatum, American Airlines’ director of pilot recruiting and development.

“You Can Fly is focused on developing aviation-related STEM programs for young people, and American Airlines’ generous grant will have a substantial impact in helping us provide opportunities to students who might otherwise never realize that an aviation career is within their reach,” said AOPA President Mark Baker.

Cindy Hasselbring, senior director of AOPA’s You Can Fly High School Aviation Initiative, said the grant from American will be applied to AOPA’s development of the first-of-its-kind aviation science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum for high schools across the country. The program, created in partnership with educators, curriculum developers, and aviation experts, offers students comprehensive four-year aviation study options in three career pathways through courses aligned with rigorous math and science standards used in many states nationwide.

Each career pathway—pilot, unmanned aircraft systems (drones), and aerospace engineering—includes specialized coursework spanning four years, building on the skills and knowledge developed at each grade level, while making math and science more relevant and fun. Schools may elect to implement one or more complete pathways, or select courses of their choice.

Courses for ninth-graders are being field tested at 29 high schools across the country, and will be available to any high school this fall, with more courses to follow over the next three years. Currently there are more than 700 ninth-grade students studying under the AOPA program. Funding from the grant also will help AOPA conduct summer workshops for teachers of the high school STEM curriculum, and provide ongoing professional development.

AOPA’s You Can Fly program is supported entirely through donations to the AOPA Foundation.

The other recipients of American Airlines’ flight education grants included the Aspen AEROspace Alliance; Community College of Beaver County (Pennsylvania); Delta State University in Mississippi; Kansas State University; McKinney ISD Aviation Academy; Ocala (Florida) Aviation Services; Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum of Charleston, South Carolina; Saint Louis University; and V.R. Eaton High School’s Aviation and Aeronautics Academy of Haslet, Texas.

Events

Celebrating women who fly

Ladies Love Taildraggers to host fall flying tour

By Jill W. Tallman

After eight years of hosting a traditional fly-in to celebrate the women who fly conventional-gear aircraft, the founder of Ladies Love Taildraggers (LLT) has decided to try something new.

The 2018 Ladies Love Taildraggers get-together will be a fall “haunted flying tour” that crosses five states. The tour kicks off on September 30 in Indiana and concludes October 6 in Texas.

LLT founder Judy Birchler said she came up with the concept after coordinating annual weekend fly-ins in Tennessee, Illinois, Texas, Arkansas, and Ohio. While those events provided the attendees with a unique opportunity to celebrate the art of flying tailwheel aircraft, Birchler said she had one minor regret after each fly-in: Aside from traveling to the airports and some poker runs, “we flew our taildraggers very little,” she said.

The 2018 itinerary—still in what Birchler calls “beta version”—should put that concern to rest. After departing from Indianapolis, participants can fly all the way to the finish at Mineral Wells, Texas, if they wish. Activities include a lunch at Lambert’s Café in Sikeston, Missouri, home of “throwed rolls”; a visit to Avenger Airport in Sweetwater, Texas, which was a training base of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots during World War II; a visit to the Ranger Field Fly-in; and a haunted walking tour and rock climbing at Lake Mineral Wells State Park.

Pilots can join or leave the tour at any point. There is no cost to register or participate, but pilots are responsible for their own fuel, lodging, food, and any related admission fees. Camping will be available at some locations. The event is open to all women taildragger pilots and their friends. Birchler is seeking volunteers to help coordinate ground support, transportation, and other aspects of the tour.

Web: www.ladieslovetaildraggers.com

ASI News

Grab your phone

Take a quiz from the Air Safety Institute

By Machteld Smith

Did you know that the AOPA Air Safety Institute (ASI) has a huge library of free safety education programs? You can choose from a vast collection of programs, including online courses, publications, videos, podcasts, and quizzes.

If you have 30 to 40 minutes available to brush up on a topic, you might take a course on your laptop. Only 10 minutes to spare? Pull up one of ASI’s safety quizzes on your phone.

You can choose from more than 60 quizzes to complete on your tablet or phone. Looking to brush up on airport lighting, aerodynamics, aircraft performance, or ATC procedures? ASI has a quiz on each topic for you. Here are three to get your started:

Radio Communication—Proper radio terminology goes a long way in clear radio communication. Get on the same wavelength with other traffic and ATC after taking this quiz.

Night Operations—When approaching an airport with pilot-controlled lighting, the runway lights activated by another pilot could turn off before you land unless you click the frequency to keep them on. How long will the lights stay illuminated once activated? The quiz has the answer.

Airspace Review—Do you need an ATC clearance to fly through complex airspace using a published VFR transition route? Find the answer and other airspace tidbits in this quiz.

Each quiz has 10 questions and includes an explanation of the correct answers. Visit the website for the full list.

Machteld Smith is an aviation technical writer for the AOPA Air Safety Institute.

Video scholarship to be awarded at Sun ’n Fun

Honoring TV personality and pilot Arthur M. Godfrey

By David Tulis

The winner of an aviation scholarship founded to honor radio and television broadcaster and pilot Arthur M. Godfrey will be awarded $5,000 during the Sun ’n Fun International Fly-In and Expo in Lakeland, Florida, April 10 through 15, said Joseph Gleason, executive director of the Arthur M. Godfrey Aviation Foundation.

The scholarship is aimed at young people seeking a career involving any type of relationship with general aviation, said Gleason. It will be presented in the name of Eastern Air Lines captain Ron Correard, who died in 2016.

Godfrey learned his initial broadcasting skills during a stint with the U.S. Navy as a radio operator and honed them further when he joined the U.S. Coast Guard. He was a popular on-air radio and television personality from the 1930s to the 1970s because of his folksy style. He died in 1982. In a nod to the longtime CBS TV personality, applicants must make a meaningful video that “shares the message of general aviation” and captures the hearts and minds of students ages 10 to 18, Gleason said. The award is open to a variety of aviation pursuits, he added. “They can be a flight school student, or a private pilot looking for a higher rating, be interested in air traffic control, or pursue an aviation maintenance career. But, keep in mind, the video should be geared toward young people so we can put it into school systems and talk about how students can enter aviation” themselves.

The Godfrey foundation is entering its third year, noted Gleason. It secured funding for two consecutive scholarships from members of Correard’s family and friends—including a tight-knit group of former Eastern employees living in aviation-rich South Florida.

The tie-in to Godfrey and Eastern began when a 12-year-old Correard saw the larger-than-life television personality sharing a Lockheed Constellation cockpit with notable aviator Eddie Rickenbacker. The World War I ace was the air carrier’s president and general manager, and a strong voice for aviation during its Golden Years. That moment cemented a desire for Correard to pursue aviation, and Eastern played a dominant role in Correard’s life until the airline disbanded in 1991, Gleason said.

Correard was aware of the financial challenge facing flight students, Gleason explained. When Correard learned to fly, the young aviator struggled to pay for training. At one point he flew lobsters “from Boston to New York and various other places so he could raise funds for his continued flight training,” said Gleason.

Correard logged 28 years with the Miami-based airline and another 12 as a flight inspector with the FAA. When he died, the Correard family requested donations to the Arthur M. Godfrey Aviation Foundation in lieu of flowers.

Web: www.godfreyaviationfoundation.org/scholarship-contest