The Flying Musicians Association (FMA) has created the FMA Solo Scholarship Award program.
Recipients will receive scholarships that will pay for their primary flight training through their first solo.
The program will fund four scholarships to juniors or seniors in high school who have been nominated by their band or music director.
FMA officials said they recognize that many skills are held in common between pilots and musicians, such as paying attention to a complex environment, reacting to unusual occurrences, utilizing complex inputs and resources, and managing several tasks simultaneously, and so launched the program for young musicians who want to be pilots.
Here’s how it works: An aviation-enthusiastic junior or senior who is a high school band member is screened and then partnered, through FMA, with a local flight school.
When the student has passed the flight physical, ab initio training takes the student through first solo. Then, the participating flight school will be reimbursed by FMA for up to 15 hours of ground and dual instruction provided.
FMA corporate members and sponsors will also assist the student with free and reduced-cost training materials. Sporty’s Pilot Shop, for example, has committed to donating four Learn to Fly courses.
For details and application materials, high school band directors should contact [email protected].