Program Turns Dropouts to Instrument-Rated Pilots

February 18, 2010—They went from high school dropouts and gang-bangers to instrument-rated private pilots. On Tuesday, February 23, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt will present private pilot certificates to Clarence Wesley Jones and Ryan Armenta, two cadets from the On Wings of Eagles Foundation (OWOEF) flight academy. OWOEF is working in partnership with the National Guard Youth Challenge program, and offers scholarships for flight training to selected graduates of the Youth Challenge camps for at-risk youth. Jones and Armenta graduated with honors from such a camp at Fort Gordon, Georgia, in 2009. Subsequently, they were the first cadets selected for “full ride” scholarships to flight training and since last August they have been flying at TransPac Aviation Academy at Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. Upon completion of their commercial and flight instructor certificates, Jones and Armenta will then become flight instructors for the next class of OWOEF cadets, set to arrive in the summer of 2010. They each must work a 24-month internship as paid flight instructors before they can be hired with an airline or other flight operation. In a 2009 interview, Jones said he escaped local gangs through the program. He said he changed his perspective from becoming a high school dropout and gang-banger to working toward being an airline pilot. “I like being respected for my abilities and my accomplishments,” he said. “I will always be grateful to Youth Challenge for the chance they gave me.” The OWOEF does not accept only candidates from the National Guard Youth Challenge Program. It will consider any high-school dropout who has acquired the GED and who can pass the screening and selection process.

Training partners (a.k.a. “stick buddies”) Ryan Armenta and Wesley Jones. Photo credit: Summer 2009 Tail Wind, newsletter for the OWOEF Program Manager Paul Brownell starts the learning process with Armenta and Jones. Photo credit: Summer 2009 Tail Wind, newsletter for the OWOEF

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