It is expected within the next 15 years there will be a need for 60,000 new commercial airline pilots in the U.S. alone. (Aviation Week)

480,000 new aviation maintenance technicians are needed worldwide by the year 2026. (ICAO)

Over the next decade, 10,000 new air traffic controllers will be needed in the U.S. as the current population becomes eligible for retirement. (Forbes)

About

Virginia Space Grant Consortium, in partnership with the Commonwealth of Virginia, Averett University, Rick Aviation, Aviation Adventures, and the Virginia Department of Aviation, is offering flight academies for selected high school students statewide in response to the looming national shortage of airline pilots and the growing need for aviation maintenance technicians and air traffic controllers.

This program will allow students to explore aviation career fields while learning to fly! The Commonwealth of Virginia and the Virginia Department of Aviation are both providing funding that permits the Pathways Flight Academies program to be offered free of charge to participants.

The Pathways Flight Academies will immerse students in learning to fly while discovering the range of exciting aviation career opportunities available. Academies will be offered during the summer of 2023 for selected students who have shown a passion for their career aspirations in becoming a commercial pilot as well as an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM).

Students admitted to this intensive program will undertake ground school and flight training that can culminate in their first solo flight at the end of the academy. Twenty-four students were chosen for the summer 2019 Pathways Flight Academies, thirty students were chosen for each of the summers of 2020 and 2021, and 44 students attended the 2022 return to residential Pathways Flight Academies .

Students must make themselves fully available for all activities during program session for full participation in the program.

We are pleased to be partnering with outstanding Virginia Flight Training schools for this program.  Averett University, Rick Aviation, and Aviation Adventures have outstanding facilities for aviation education and flight training and operate FAA-Approved Part 141 flight schools offering classes for both a Private Pilot Certificate and Commercial Pilot Certificate.