Cascade Warbirds has just announced the winners of the organization’s 2021 scholarship program to further the aviation interests of  qualified youth in western Washington. 

The four new winners are:

• Alexandra “Alex” Szrama, a  sophomore at Eastside Catholic School.  She has been a member of the Civil Air Patrol for over three years and has her sights set on the USAF Academy.  She hopes that will lead to flying fighters.
• Brooke Swanson, a sophomore at Raisbeck Aviation High School, also hopes to attend the USAF Academy.  She comes from a military aviation family; her sister is at the Academy now and her grandfather was a naval aviator.
• Liam Mullins attends South Puget Sound Community College.  His career goal is to become an airline pilot, so he will start flight training this summer while he finishes his college degree.
• Mauricia Lott is a junior at Lynnwood High School.  She, too, hopes to attend the USAF Academy where she will study aerospace engineering.  Her ultimate goal is to become a commercial airline pilot. She will be proud to be second generation military as her mother was in the Army and her father in the Marines.

For more than a decade Cascade Warbirds has teamed with several flight schools in the Puget Sound area to provide scholarship recipients with tuition, books and supplies, and two introductory instructional flights.  The ground school portion comprises classroom lectures, visual presentations, group discussions, practical exercises, and field trips over a period of approximately 55 hours.  Classes generally meet two weeknights per week for two and one-half hours and one Saturday per week for four hours over a period of six weeks.   Successful completion of this Private Pilot Ground School will qualify a student to take the FAA Private Pilot Written Exam.

This award also includes two instructional flights in a light aircraft, the make and model of which will be matched to the student.  The first flight will occur part way through the ground school, based on the instructor’s recommendation, and the second flight will occur after the successful completion of the ground school course.  Each flight will include a pre-flight briefing, actual taxi and runway procedures, introduction to radio communications, the take-off, a series of in-flight maneuvers, the return and landing, and post-flight procedures.  These two flights will be logged in the student’s personal logbook and count toward the minimum flight time required to earn a Private Pilot license.

This scholarship is available for students between the ages of 16 and 21 at the time of award.  This scholarship is valued at $1,350.

Recognizing the cost of the flight training required for a pilot’s license, the scholarship program offers an additional $2,500 Continuing Aviation Education Grant to one scholarship recipient who intends to earn their FAA private pilot certificate within the following year.  Applicants must complete the ground school course, both introductory flights, and submit an essay by September 30 of the scholarship year.  Funds are released to the winner of the best essay in stages as the recipient completes training milestones:  $1,000 after completing their first solo flight, $1,000 after completing their long solo cross-country, and $500 after earning the private pilot certificate.

Cascade Warbirds is Squadron #2 of EAA Warbirds of America. With over 250 members and the largest squadron in Warbirds of America, Cascade Warbirds is centered in the Puget Sound area.  It normally meets at the Museum of Flight in Seattle from October until flying weather returns in April. 

Cascade Warbirds is Squadron #2 of EAA Warbirds of America and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of local aviation enthusiasts, many of whom are pilot-owners of historic military aircraft.  With over 250 members and the largest squadron in Warbirds of America, Cascade Warbirds members are centered in the Puget Sound area, extending throughout Washington, and also from British Columbia to Nevada.  Its mission is to promote and encourage the flying preservation and display of Warbird aircraft (Keep ‘em Flying), to honor Veterans, and to engage in aviation education.

On the web at http://www.cascadewarbirds.org