By JOANNA MANNING.
In all the years Southwest Airlines pilot Jim Baker has visited with elementary school students in Hallettsville, Texas, he has never encountered a child who aspires to be a pilot. This always surprises him.
“When I was a boy, it seemed like every kid wanted to be a fighter pilot or an astronaut,” he said.
Stories of barnstormers and wartime flying aces had captured his imagination as a child and provided inspiration for his career. Today, however, Baker fears that young people have too many distractions pulling them away from aviation. He and a few friends decided to look back to those original barnstormers to lure kids into the field.
Baker had already been restoring old aircraft in his spare time, so he decided that they would be the perfect vehicles for teaching young people basic mechanics and engineering and to foster a love of flying.
He formed a non-profit organization called the Texas Barnstorming Museum, partnered with high schools in the region, and got to work recruiting students into a flight training program. The museum is based at Hallettsville Municipal Airport (34R).
“We set up meetings with the kids and their parents, and vetted them based on a few criteria, mainly desire, and not necessarily grades. The kids pay nothing, only work for their training,” Baker said.
Each student in the program gets a mini ground school and three lessons in a Piper Cub before moving onto a Grumman Traveler for their private pilot certification. Along the way, Barnstormer students also have opportunities to fly a Stearman and a 1929 Fleet Model 2, and there are a few WACO and TravelAir projects “to keep the kids busy,” according to Baker.
“How many 16-year-olds have flown a Stearman or are tailwheel endorsed?” he asked, clearly proud of his students.
Baker has found that simply exposing young people to the many possibilities found in aviation is often enough to steer them into aviation careers.
When Nolan Steffek was younger, he never considered flying as a career choice.
“Unless you have a family member in aviation, I feel like most people wouldn’t even think about becoming a pilot,” he said.
During a summer break in high school, he toyed with the idea of becoming an airplane mechanic, but when he returned to school and saw a flyer for scholarships being offered by the Texas Barnstorming Museum, he thought he might as well give flying a try.
His introductory flight in the Piper Cub was all it took for him to settle on a new career path.
“It felt so surreal. I loved it right away,” he said.
With a scholarship from the Texas Barnstorming Museum in hand, he headed off to Texas State Technical College after graduation and is now a private pilot.
Though he was leaning toward a career in the airlines, he’s recently been considering flying for law enforcement or for the Forest Service fighting wildfires.
“Before getting involved with the Barnstormers, I had no idea what I wanted to do it. I got so lucky that I was able to find out about that scholarship and get accepted for it,” he said.
Jim Baker wants to ensure that more young people like Nolan find their way to aviation. His non-profit not only provides flight training for high-school students, but also offers college scholarships for students who pursue aviation-related careers.
“Of the seven students we initially trained, five are in various aviation or engineering colleges. That’s not too bad for a town of 2,600,” he said.
When Abigail Jernigan graduated from high school, 14 flying hours with the Texas Barnstormers under her belt, she enrolled in Louisiana Tech with the intention of continuing her education to be a pilot. But the program had reached capacity by the time she applied, so she opted instead for cyber engineering and has found a new passion.
“It’s an expensive major, and I’m very grateful for the scholarship,” she said, noting that without the Texas Barnstorming Museum, she would not likely have entered a STEM field at all.
“I probably would have been close to home learning business or something. Now I’m in a field that has a lot of earning potential. I can make a good future for myself.”
The Texas Barnstorming Museum’s youth program is ambitious, and, even apart from the college scholarships, the costs of training, insurance, and maintenance for the flight program are considerable.
When a friend and museum supporter recently passed away, his family donated a Van’s RV-12 to be used for a raffle that would fund aviation and engineering scholarships in his name.
Just 2,500 tickets will be sold at $100, with the proceeds going to fund more flight training and scholarships. Winners will be drawn when all the tickets are sold or, at the very latest, Oct. 31, 2021.
The money is sure to change lives. Ryan Hermes, one of the original Barnstorming Museum students who is now completing his degree at Texas State Tech, remains an enthusiastic supporter of the organization and credits it with providing him with a sense of direction.
“Just having somewhere to go and do the things you love is awesome,” he said. “I’ve had the chance to meet new people and get more opportunities for my future. I think there needs to be more places like that.”
Tickets for the raffle are available at RaffleCreator.com/pages/41866/Vans-RV-12.
Besides the RV-12 for the number one winner, winners two to four will have their choice of ANR headsets from Bose, David Clark, or Lightspeed.
I agree most many people become pilots because of family background. However in my case nothing could be further away. I am not sure they could even spell airplane.
However, my mother’s family had a cottage on a lake west of Milwaukee. Driving to it took us passed Waukesha Country Airport(KUES). From the time I was about 3/4 I decided airplanes were for me. So we always had to stop for awhile so I could watch touch and goes till others patience wore thin. So here it is 80 plus years later l am still an active pilot, and had a career that was a hobby. Funny thing, with all my flying, I have never landed at KUES!