Calling the Next Gen to Aviation
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Posted
by Christopher Fotos at
7/24/2007 2:36 PM CDT
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Victoria Kirby, who is majoring in communications at Howard University, is an Aviation Week & Space Technology intern. We've discussed with her the coming pilot-mechanics-engineering shortage and what individuals like Barrington Irving and universities are doing to attract young people to aviation careers. During a show that does so much to spark interest in aviation, we invited Kirby to share her thoughts.
Barrington Irving, the youngest person to fly solo around the world--and the first African American to do so--is a modern-day hero for many youngsters. He completed his epic journey in 95 days--in an aircraft he assembled himself--with hopes of motivating a new generation to take an interest in flying.
Irving named the aircraft “Inspiration” and created a not-for-profit company that is focused on teaching youth from meager beginnings the joy of aviation.
Later this week Aviation Week’s Frances Fiorino will be interviewing Barrington Irving at the show.
Irving’s company, Experience Aviation, along with other similar programs like EAA’s YoungEagles, will allow youth to experience a taste of what the aviation industry offers by giving them a whiff of how it feels to be in the air. The result will hopefully be a renewed interest in the aviation industry by thousands of young people who will ultimately take the place of the retiring “baby boomer” generation as pilots, engineers, and others in high-demand sectors.
In the age of Google, Yahoo, and Iphones, many of today’s college students are graduating to fill lucrative information technology and business positions. How do we effectively shift the mindset of the younger generation? How do we prove to students that there is a vast array of career opportunities available in aviation that can be just as lucrative as other “in demand” fields while also creating a culturally diverse working environment?
Irving believes he knows the answer. He uses the old adage of “knowledge is power” to respond to the question. Many students simply are not taught or do not know how exciting aviation can be as a career choice. It offers action, complex and challenging work, and innovation at its best. However, if there are no examples for them in the media, if there is no one showing them, and if there are limited classes available, the chance that students will ever witness the power of an airplane up-close is slim to none. The opportunity for minorities is even slimmer.
Ethnic minorities and women are hugely underrepresented in the aviation industry with only 4.9% of commercial pilots and 1.7% of aircraft mechanic jobs currently held by women. In addition, less than 2% of commercial pilots are African American and less than 3% are of Hispanic origin. Experience Aviation hopes to change those statistics by attempting to fill the estimated 10-year shortage of qualified personnel in the aviation industry with emerging scholars who come from economically deprived bacakgrounds, similar to Irving’s.
According to Experience Aviation’s website, the Experience Aviation Learning Center “provides exciting educational experiences, including hands-on training on flight simulator programs, to middle and high school students. Activities are designed to give them experience in various fields including flying, air traffic control, aerospace technology, and aviation maintenance.” Time will tell whether his efforts or the efforts of organizations around the world to turn “Generation Y’s” attention to aviation and aerospace will pay off. The future of our industry depends on them.
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