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How do your donations and our scholarships make an impact?
Pre-Solo: These scholarships are awarded in honor of Bob Shannon and intended to help the youngest aspiring aviators (typically age 14 to 18) who have not yet started training to get a kick-start in their endeavors. Candidates must show particular promise and drive, since the number of scholarships available in this category is limited. These are the most difficult candidates to vet, but have been some of our most inspiring success stories: 15 year olds going on to become corporate and airline pilots.
Advanced: The most of our scholarships are directed toward this category as this is where the majority of donations have been invested over time, and the Aero Club thinks that students who have soloed on their own are showing committment to their goal of a career in aviation. Most candidates in this category are ages 18 and up and aspiring to be commercial or airline pilots or aviation mechanics. Recipients in this category have become corporate and airline pilots, flight instructors, airport managers, flight service specialists, air traffic controllers, specialized field operators like aviation fire suppression, helicopter tour guides, and aviation mechanics, as well as airplane owners and operators in General Aviation.
Memorial Scholarships: These scholarships are given as stand-alone awards or in conjunction with other awards and are provided in honor of local aviators, their estates or family, in remembrance of their loved ones and in the hope that it will provide a lasting impact on aviation which they held so dear. Usually these awards augment our existing pre-solo or advanced awards, though we may be able to direct these awards to a specific sub-category as desired by donors. For example, some donors have asked that we support a scholarship within the pre-solo or advanced category, stipulating the desire to help with aviation mechanic or commercial airline pilot training.
Specialty Scholarships: At times, the Aero Club is able to award specialized training that is offered by local instructors or flight schools. Presently, we award a Tailwheel Endorsement scholarship.
Flight School Awards: At times, the Aero Club is able to partner with a local flight school to award training at that school.
Commercial/Airline Programs : The Aero Club is developing programs that help support students specifically working toward the airlines. In recent years, due to changes in regulations, the expense of building the hours necessary to get hired at the commuter airlines has skyrocketed. This program aims to provide relief to pilots who have their commercial pilot certificate and are building hours.
Presently, the typical path to the airlines is to obtain the commercial, instrument, multi-engine, and CFI certificates and then build the hours needed to qualify to take the ATP tests. When attending certain accredited aviation science schools, 1000 hours are necessary; otherwise, 1500 hours are necessary to be accepted into the commuter airlines cadet programs in order to take the Airline Transport Pilot written exam and get the ATP rating. Beyond the total hours requirement, the ATP rating requires 250 hours of PIC (Pilot in Command), 500 hours of cross-country flying, 75 hours of Instrument, 100 night hours, and 50 hours in class (25 of which may be achieved in a full-motion multi-engine flight simulator).