Staff Report
Santa Barbara County students who are selected for this year’s flight training scholarships will be announced at the annual Airport Day on Saturday, May 18.
Winning one of the highly coveted scholarships and finishing their flight instruction can lead to careers in aviation, according to event organizer Robert “Captain Bob” Perry, who has been flying for almost 40 years.
“Learning to fly gives them the knowledge to learn how to do something they didn’t know how to do,” he said. “The scholarship gives them that start.”
The scholarships are available for all Santa Barbara County students age 14-17, and at least two will be awarded at the fifth annual Airport Day on May 18 at Santa Ynez Valley Airport.
Perry noted that a few of the scholarship students have become commercial airline pilots and some have gone into the military, with a few becoming fighter pilots.
Major Amy Moore, an Air Force reservist and graduate of Santa Ynez Valley High School, applied for a local youth aviation scholarship after hearing about it from a friend. She went on to attend the Air Force Academy from 2004-2008 and completed her Air Force pilot training in 2009.
Moore left active duty in 2014 and has been a reservist ever since, completing Air Force missions every six weeks or so. The job has taken her to about 30 different countries all over the word.
The Airport Day 2019 Flight Scholarship is funded by grants from the Santa Ynez Valley Airport Authority and the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians Foundation.
Airport Day will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with registration for the Young Eagles youth flying event starting at 9 a.m. A free hotdog and hamburger barbecue will be served by Santa Ynez Valley Rotary Club volunteers.
Applications for the Airport Day 2020 Flight Scholarship will be available in the airport office at Santa Ynez Valley Airport or online at www.eaa491.org/scholarship. For more information, email Perry at CaptainBobsPlaneTalk@gmail.com.
