Jonathan Strickland may as well have wings attached to his back as the young pilot already owns several world records in aviation. The Los Angeles native recently achieved another mark by becoming the youngest pilot hired by UPS at just 25 years old. At a very young age, Strickland developed a love of flying via…
Black women are continuing to break down barriers one first at a time. The latest woman representing #BlackGirlMagic is Andrea Lewis, a Delta Airlines flight attendant, who has just been named by the Georgia National Guard as its first Black female pilot. Andrea Lewis is the daughter of a military pilot and a commercial flight…
Black Chicago is synonymous with jazz and the blues, but few know about the city’s courageous black pilots who changed aviation history. When flying was still a novelty, these men and women took to the skies and in the process helped open the door for blacks to train and fly as pilots in World War II….
The inspiration for Fly For The Culture is the friendship of two young men during the Korean War: Jesse Brown and Thomas Hudner. Their story epitomizes the kinship, sacrifice, and love that transcends the boundaries of race and culture. Jesse Brown grew up in Mississippi during the Great Depression. Although his family was far from…
Forty-year old Jared Hodge dreamed of becoming a pilot since the age of six-years old. Hodge’s parents often took him to airshows at a young age, which sparked his interest in aviation and he never looked back. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Aviation Management and Professional Flight from Auburn University. While at…
Twenty-one year old Xylene DeCoteau is a Certified Flight Instructor who aspires to be a commercial airline pilot. DeCoteau’s mother, who was a flight attendant, sparked her interest in pursuing a career in the aviation industry. Originally, DeCoteau wanted to be a flight attendant like her mother. However, after doing more research and participating in…
Christian Cunningham, a senior aeronautical studies major at Kent State University, has been doubted. Some said he would never become a pilot. But Cunningham is already proving them wrong. Graduation is on the horizon, and he and his internship were recently featured on CNN. “People would always say I couldn’t do it because I had…
Lauren Willliams knew she wanted to fly after going to an air show with her parents at the age of four. She described being mesmerized by a F/A-18 at a military air show during Fleet Week in San Francisco. “I was blown away,” Williams said. “I knew then that’s what really sparked my interest.” Now,…
Cosby Washingtion’s life-long dream to become a pilot started in the third-grade with a science fair project on paper airplanes that advanced to the city wide science fair. At thirty-two years old Washington recalls the fateful city wide science fair event that set in motion his career in the aviation industry. “At the city wide…
Alexis Thind is a private pilot, currently completing her commercial pilot certificate in Squamish, a municipality north of Vancouver, Canada. After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a major in Political Science, Thind discovered her love for flying. She follows in the footsteps of her late father, a retired F-5 fighter pilot and…