Flight Training Scholarship

http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2011/october/proficient.html?WT.mc_id=110930eflight&WT.mc_sect=ftn

 ‘AOPA Pilot’ columnist launches scholarship

 

Longtime AOPA Pilot columnist Barry Schiff wants to get more young people into aviation, and he also wants to honor those who helped him in his aeronautical career. Schiff is sponsoring a $3,000 scholarship for a young person between the ages of 16 and 21. The amount is intended to get the recipient to his or her solo. Deadline to apply is Dec. 15. For application information, read his October column.

To enter the competition, the contestant must go to my website, click on “Email Barry,” and send an email to which is attached a 500-word essay (double-spaced using a word processor) describing why he or she wants to learn to fly. The winner will need to submit a clear digital image of themself. Submission of the essay and the photograph will be considered as permission to publish both in this column next April. Deadline for submitting the essay is December 15, and I reserve the right to unilaterally select the winner based strictly on the merits of the essay. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation will count! Contestants must also provide their snail-mail address, email address, birth date, and telephone number (all of which will be kept confidential).

The winner will be allowed to take flying lessons at any flight school of his choice as long as it is in the United States. I will make arrangements to pay the school a maximum of $3,000 for the winner’s flight instruction, an amount that should enable most young people to make their first solo flight, although a solo flight cannot be guaranteed. It is not required, but I hope that the winner will keep me informed about his training progress and eventually provide written reaction to his first solo flight. What is required, however, is that the winner make every effort to fly at least once a week (weather permitting). Lessons spread far apart are less effective.