425 STEM Flights: How Volunteer Pilots Inspire Future Aviation Careers + GA News

In Episode 425 of Aviation News Talk, Max talks with retired Air Force General David Brubaker about STEM Flights, a nonprofit organization that pairs middle- and high-school students with volunteer pilot mentors for free, one-on-one aviation experiences designed to introduce them to careers in aviation, aerospace, engineering, and other STEM fields.

STEM Flights grew out of Brubaker's own experience after retiring from the Air Force in 2005. During his military career, he flew aircraft including the F-4 and F-16 and finished his career with an assignment at the Pentagon. After retiring, he became active in general aviation and began taking young people flying.

But Brubaker didn't simply give them airplane rides. He expected them to participate. They helped with navigation, looked at the instrumentation, worked with the radios, and often took the controls themselves.

Years later, he began hearing back from some of those young people. Several had gone on to study aviation, aerospace, engineering, and other technical subjects. One young woman eventually earned her ratings, joined the West Virginia Air National Guard, and became a C-130 pilot.

Those experiences helped Brubaker recognize that pilots could have an enormous influence on the career choices of young people simply by sharing aviation with them in a meaningful way. His children encouraged him to turn what he was doing informally into a nonprofit, and STEM Flights was launched in 2018.

Today, STEM Flights connects students with volunteer pilot mentors around the country. Students don't simply show up at an airport for a free ride. They apply to the program, receive a recommendation, select a mission based on their interests, and complete homework before being paired with a pilot.

That preparation is part of what makes STEM Flights different. Brubaker describes the program as a more intensive, personal experience than a typical introductory airplane ride. A student is paired one-on-one with a pilot mentor, and the pilot learns about the student's interests before the flight. On the day of the mission, they discuss safety and learning objectives, preflight the airplane, and then head into the air.

Once they reach a safe altitude, the student usually gets the controls. They may learn about navigation, aircraft instrumentation and communications, and Brubaker says he likes to have each student make at least one radio call. But the most powerful moment often comes when the student realizes that he or she is actually flying the airplane.

Brubaker tells the story of one reluctant young man whose mother encouraged him to participate. On the ground, the student appeared completely uninterested, and Brubaker wondered whether the flight would accomplish anything. Then they took off.

Within minutes of taking the controls, the boy came alive. He started participating, asking questions, and enthusiastically flying the airplane. A couple of weeks later, Brubaker received a letter from the boy's mother. She explained that her son had approached life believing it was better not to try than to try and fail. Flying an airplane—something he never imagined he could possibly do—changed his perception of what he might be capable of accomplishing.

That experience illustrates why STEM Flights is about more than simply recruiting future pilots. Students have gone on to pursue aircraft maintenance, avionics, aerospace engineering, military aviation, and other technical fields. Brubaker says dozens have attended universities with aviation or engineering programs, and STEM Flights continues supporting students after their flights through a program called Flight Following.

Flight Following connects participants with information about scholarships, flight schools, grants, Civil Air Patrol, and other organizations and programs that can help them continue toward aviation and STEM careers.

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