30 Roaring Fork high schoolers receive aviation scholarship

In the eight years that the Aspen Flight school has been giving out scholarships to students in the Roaring Fork Valley, no year have they given out more than this year. 

Thirty Roaring Fork Valley students are receiving scholarships to the Aspen Flight Academy, the high school program announced Monday. 

The aviation program at Aspen High School is one of very few aviation schools available to high school students across the country. Students in seventh grade can begin taking classes on aviation. By the time they are in ninth grade, they can begin logging time in the air, primarily at the Aspen Airport.

This scholarship opens that opportunity up for students from Rifle to Aspen.

“Our mission for students is to be able to give these students, who would love to be a pilot and get into the aviation industry, the opportunity,” said Jeff Posey, chairman on the flight school board of directors. “It is an expensive industry to get into, though, expensive job training. So we give scholarships to do that.”

Posey estimates the rough cost of the instruction to be around $30,000. 

After receiving applications from prospective scholarship recipients on why they are interested in the program, Aspen Flight School sits down with students and interviews them. According to Posey, they take many things into consideration, including students’ interests, grades, goals within aviation, and family ability to pay for classes. 

If a student matches all the criteria, they are picked for the scholarship. 

Each year, there are about 15 to 18 Aspen Flight Academy high school students who receive their private pilots license. From there, they can begin flying through private lessons. Many students take their education further and some graduates fly commercially. One student, Nick Belinski, is now a Top Gun flight instructor in the U.S. Army. 

Not all students, including scholarship recipients, are solely interested in getting their pilot’s license. Some are interested in other parts of the aviation industry including work in air traffic control towers, as aviation mechanics, as engineers, or otherwise work in the aviation industry. 

At the Monday ceremony where scholarships were awarded, Greg Wooldridge, three-time Blue Angels leader, shared his thoughts with the upcoming aviators. The Blue Angels are a well-known United States Navy Demonstration Squadron that performs for crowds, often flying multiple jets around 3-feet apart. 

“This is going to help pave your way, keep you on that glide slope, right?” said Wooldridge. “You’re getting your license. There’s so many doors that get opened when you get into aviation.”