On Friday, August 24, the Fly Ottumwa air show, in collaboration with the Ottumwa Regional Legacy Foundation and Indian Hills Community College, held its first Legacy Education Day. Created to address the worldwide pilot shortage and to inspire the next generation of pilots, the Legacy Education Day provided approximately 150 high school students the opportunity to learn about the promising careers in aviation and to connect with professional pilots.
“It started with becoming aware of the pilot shortage. And we have such an asset in our community with Indian Hills Community College. They have an aviation program that is located right out at the airport, so it was a win-win for everybody,” Fly Ottumwa’s Director of Operations and Sponsorships Pam Kaupins said. “We could promote the school, their program and, again, try to turn a couple kids on to aviation.”
Among the pilots high school students met with were ICAS members Kyle Franklin, Skip Stewart, Susan Dacy and the U.S. Air Force A-10 Demo Team. In addition to their scheduled meetings with professional pilots, the local high school students attended the pilot briefing, were treated to a private air show, and participated in a tour of the Indian Hills Aviation Department.
“One of the beautiful things was that the Indian Hills program came away with a number of students they are going to contact who are interested in pursuing a college career in aviation,” Kaupins said.
Fly Ottumwa is already looking to next year’s Legacy Education Day program as it moves to better target certain high school classes and to reach students who already have a strong interest in aviation.
