Nominations Open for Crossfield Aerospace Educator Award

The National Aviation Hall of Fame is seeking entries for its A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Educator of the Year Award.

Founded in 1986 by famed research test pilot, the late A. Scott Crossfield, the award is open to educators from grades kindergarten through twelfth grade in a public, private, parochial, charter school, or homeschool setting. Nominees can also be teachers in non-traditional learning environments.

Nominations will be examined by a review committee of aerospace and education professionals for documentation of each nominee’s effectiveness, creativity, and ability to maintain high standards for their students and themselves, with aerospace being the core subject matter of their curricula.

Nominations will be accepted through Nov. 1, 2026.

Scott Crossfield (1921-2006) was inducted into the NAHF in 1983 in recognition of his contributions as a naval aviator, aerospace engineer, and test pilot. Crossfield established the award to recognize dedicated and talented aerospace educators who:

• Set high standards for students and demand excellence in performance,
• Strive to improve their personal academic competence and teaching ability,
• Perform their teaching duties in an exemplary manner, resulting in true learning by students,
• Demonstrate creativity in developing and utilizing materials to enhance the teaching of aerospace,
• Maximize student involvement and,
• Gear activities to improve learning or create and have developed a one-time project or program of such significance that it has a major impact on the teaching of aerospace education.

The 2026 Crossfield Aerospace Educator of the Year was Dan Mills. With more than five decades of aviation experience, Mills has built one of the nation’s most impactful high school aviation programs, combining rigorous technical instruction with a deeply personal commitment to mentorship, integrity, and character development, according to NAHF officials. Mills’ program emphasizes not only aeronautical knowledge and flight proficiency, but also personal responsibility and decision‑making. His curriculum challenges students to become individuals of integrity while preparing them to pass the FAA Private Pilot written exam and solo in a Cessna 172 in under 12 hours of flight instruction. Many of his former students have gone on to careers as airline pilots, flight instructors, air traffic controllers, and aircraft mechanics.

For more information: NationalAviation.org/Annual-Crossfield-Teacher-of-the-Year-Award