NonProfit NewsPod: Learn to Fly Scholarship Applications Now Open!

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] For a lot of young people, the dream of flight feels distant, something admired from the ground, but for a few, that dream is about to become very real. Hi, I'm Jeff Holden. Welcome to this nonprofit News pod. I'm speaking with Tom Jones, president and CEO of the Aerospace Museum of California. Tom, we've got some exciting and time bound news that really needs to be shared, doesn't it?

Tom Jones: It does. We've only got a, about two and a half weeks left before the deadline of our private pilot license scholarship, and we're looking for more applicants. So, and that PPL is what private pilot license stands for. So if I use that acronym throughout this, that's what PPL means. 

Jeff Holden: Perfect. So tell us a little bit about.

Why this is important and, and what a future pilot needs to be alerted to [00:01:00] what has to happen. 

Tom Jones: You know, we've got. About a little over 60,000 students a year that come through the museum now. And last year we, we had a hundred applicants for this scholarship. We had gave out three scholarships, almost, almost $40,000 worth of scholarship money last year.

And so these students, they need to be between 16 and 22 years old, and they need to be highly motivated and be pursuing. Their dream of flight. We've got a lot of mentor opportunities available for them. So the scholarship committee is, is a group of pilots essentially that pilots or air traffic control people that are board members and community members that are on the scholarship committee.

And so they run the interview process, they run the. Selection process. And then they mentor these students, the students that are selected. And so far we've had five [00:02:00] students that have received this scholarship. We're looking for three more this year, and so this is a big deal and it's life changing. The kids that get this scholarship, we've got one young lady that got the scholarship a couple of years ago has gone on to get not only her private pilot's license, but her instrument rating and her commercial pilot's license, and now she's flying.

She's getting paid to fly. That happened about 18 months after she got the scholarship. So there are other follow-on scholarships available through other organizations like our partners, the Auburn Aviation Association. But we've got just a fantastic program and a lot of structured support for students to, you know, lean into this.

Our goal is for them to finish. The entire training program within one year. We've got several students that finished in about nine months. And so going from zero to finished in that period of time, you know, you need a highly motivated person that wants to really lean in and [00:03:00] focus on this. 

Jeff Holden: And these scholarships are $12,500 a piece, correct?

Tom Jones: That's correct. 

Jeff Holden: Of of which there are three. Would that money. Take you full all the way through to get your private pilot's license. 

Tom Jones: It depends on the situation. Some students can make it all the way through. They may need a little bit of extra funding, but the, the vast majority, especially if they continue to lean into it, especially when the weather's good.

Right now, it's hasn't been so good lately, but. During the summer, it's always beautiful here, so when they lean into it, they can get either all the way through or most of the way through. In fact, we had one young lady that was so efficient with her money, she was able to, the same young lady, she was able to get most of her instrument rating done with the same money.

And so that is a possibility as well if you're, if you've been doing training and you're kind of running outta money, this is a great plus up on that. So. 

Jeff Holden: What does a successful candidate look for? Of the [00:04:00] five that have already gone through the program, what are some of the characteristics that you saw in those individuals as that awarded the scholarships?

Tom Jones: You know, the, the selection committee is looking for somebody that's just highly motivated. They. Breathe. They love flying. They may already be a, a young volunteer at the Aerospace museum volunteering in the flight zone on the flight simulators. They may already have done the FAA written exam for private pilot license.

Those things are very helpful because it just helps accelerate them. And this, you know, this scholarship is meant to get them across the finish line with mentorship, with the money, with all aspects of it. It's very, very focused on the student. Uh, we put a lot of people and a lot of effort towards helping them get, be successful and get, get finished.

Jeff Holden: If I'm not mistaken, they do get additional consideration if they're already involved in aviation in some of the, the various [00:05:00] services. Civil air patrol, flight schools completing. That's right. Knowledge tests. 

Tom Jones: Yeah. Yeah. They could be in civil air patrol or. You know, the, the Sea Cadet program or anything like that where, or maybe the EAA and an EAA chapter.

There's several of those around town and that's the Experimental Aircraft Association. 

Jeff Holden: Thank 

Tom Jones: you. Um, you know, having a little bit of time in an airplane helps. It's not, it's not a requirement, but it's, it's certainly helpful. You know, some people get up in a small plane and they get bounced around and they get a little sick or whatever, and you know, before you start down the path, you might wanna know that it's really something that you wanna do.

And so we're looking for very dedicated young, young people that are gonna apply themselves. 

Jeff Holden: Part of the program also is a commitment to volunteer service with the Aerospace Museum. Yes, 

Tom Jones: yes. They need to volunteer about four hours a month, and so most of our students that have been selected, they volunteer in [00:06:00] the flight zone.

That's the simulators that were donated by some really generous donors. We've got eight simulators up there, and they are. Super high end, one of those simulators, you can actually log time. It's a called an advanced aviation training device. You can log flight time on it, get part of your instrument rating done as a follow on rating.

So it's, it's fantastic. You know, the, the deadline for this is February 14th, 

Jeff Holden: Valentine's Day, 

Tom Jones: Valentine's Day. So, uh, if you'd love to fly. This is your, this is your thing, so there's 

Jeff Holden: your, there's your big heart for the, uh, 

Tom Jones: that's right. Celebration. Come love the museum and love your career, your future flying career.

Jeff Holden: What's the best way for a student or an interested party? To, to find out a little bit more about the, the program, the scholarships, and where to register. 

Tom Jones: The best place to go is the Aerospace Museum's website. That is aerospace [00:07:00] ca.org/ppl. Scholarship, 

Jeff Holden: and I will put this in the podcast notes as well, so nobody has to remember it.

Just go there, you find it, and you can click right on it and get all the information you need. 

Tom Jones: Perfect. 

Jeff Holden: Thank you. This is How Dreams take Flight. Literally. Literally three $12,500 scholarships, a proven pathway. Real mentorship at the museum. And again, those applications close on February 14th. And you can learn more by visiting the website aerospace ca.org and just follow the prompts to the application process.

And I will have those in the show notes as well. Tom, thank you so much. 

Tom Jones: And the other thank you Jeff, and I appreciate having the opportunity to, to talk with you today. The other thing I wanna point out real quick is that. You know, these students have, we've had several students that applied maybe in the first year when they were 16 or 17 years old.

We want them [00:08:00] to keep applying because that perseverance looks good. On the scholarship committee, as you might imagine, Hey, I've applied three times. I've done all these things that you asked me to do when I wasn't successful the first couple of times, and now I'm really ready to go. I'm 18 or whatever.

And. Whatever their age might be and they're really motivated, but that shows the committee that their dedication to aviation and, and getting through this program quickly and efficiently. 

Jeff Holden: I'm so glad you said that because there may have been some who just didn't get in figured, well now I'm not eligible.

But in fact that eligibility eligibility actually increases by your persistence and commitment and demonstration of wanting to fly. 

Tom Jones: Exactly. 

Jeff Holden: Excellent. This has been a nonprofit podcast, news pod. Thanks for listening and be sure to subscribe by visiting nonprofit [00:09:00] pod.com.