They say a human being can jump into the water and learn how to swim, but they can't jump into the air and learn how to fly.
Well, Flight Club 502 is a nonprofit, Louisville, helping teens defy gravity, turning them into pilots and into leaders.
If you can graduate high school and already have a private pilot's license, you're you're and shoulders above so many others.
Flight Club five oh two's mission is to use aviation and STEM education to teach goal setting and success for young people.
You begin with your young eagle introductory flight, and then you get you get a flight instructor.
They start working through the program with you.
You have to take a written exam and pass that written exam so that we know you have the subject matter knowledge before you fly solo.
The certified flight instructor will take you up in the plane and you will work together to fly flights and they will determine when the right time is for you to solo.
It varies from person to person.
The Organization for Black Aerospace Professionals, otherwise known as Oh Bath, is a terrific organization and they partner with us to do their summer camps.
We also work closely with the Academy at Shawnee High School that has an aviation program, and both Obama and Shawnee have been able to extend the reach and the possibility of aviation to minority groups.
I joined through the oh, that program.
I'm currently flying planes now, so I have 10 hours in the air and I'm working on navigation and I plan on becoming a pilot for you.
It was very nerve wracking because my instructor was like, Yeah, you have at it.
So it was very nerve racking that I got to fly.
And my first time I got on the plane.
It's not just learning how to fly, but it's having an experience providing a clubhouse, an opportunity where young people can come and excel and learn about leadership and decision making skills and critical thinking skills and problem solving.
I've been involved in Flight Club for about two years now, since my sophomore year of high school, and I started off just as a member and I decided I wanted to take on more of a leadership role.
I've personally learned how to run a meeting and manage a club, create agendas and timelines, as well as responsible decision making physically in the aircraft.
Flight Club really prepares you to take on any career you're interested in, even if you don't want to pursue aviation necessarily, and you just want to continue to fly or you're interested.
I've learned so many valuable skills that will help me in whatever career path I might choose.
There's a unique opportunity in this time in America where aviation needs young pilots and there is a great deal of resources being put towards cultivating that next group of aviators.
And we're just so happy to be part of it, be such a vital part of it.
The sky's the limit for those teens.
Flight Club 502 offers a rotating 22 week program so students can join at any time.
They currently have just under 500 members.