Why STEM and Aviation Matter

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all sectors of the US economy and domestic aviation is no exception.   When compared with the number of passengers boardings in 2019, commercial air carrier service enplanement dropped by an average of 45.7% in 2020.¹  While some flight cancellations are to be expected at times due to factors such as weather, system or mechanical issues, cancellations in FY2020 increased by 96.5%.¹  Because of pandemic restrictions, inflation, and other world events, air travel stalled around the world.  However, as many pilots who have taken the private pilot checkride know, it’s not about how you stall, it’s about how you recover.  Air travel has seen an increase as Coronavirus-restrictions have lifted, but it now faces a new headwind to overcome – pilot shortage.  In the next 10 years, the industry will need to hire about 14,500 new pilots to fully recover.²  The US does not currently create pilots as quickly as they are needed.  Major airlines are responding to the shortage with higher pay and sign on bonuses.  Regional airlines are offering tuition reimbursement packages and creating partnerships with flight schools to provide programs allowing low time pilot graduates to “flow” into their cockpits.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education focuses on highlighting the connections between the four academic disciplines through problem solving and hands-on learning.  Our mission is to enlighten students, teachers, and parents of innumerable potential opportunity the aerospace industry.  Implementation of our STEM based curriculum with a focus on aviation build skills in students that are needed for career readiness.  We expose students to topics such as meteorology, aerodynamics, physics, airspace, aviation safety, and radio communications .  After lesson plans in the classroom, students will apply the learned concepts through hands-on experiences in our full-motion simulator.  We offer students an educational opportunity critical to their future success and to a strong economic future for our country.  Aviation teaches decision making, resource management, hazardous attitude remedies, communication and collaboration amongst other skills that become life-long tools for success.  Our nonprofit’s goal is to provide the local schools this specialized curriculum at no cost to the schools or parents.  The industry will be repaid in the future by having a more well-rounded, critical thinking pool of professionals because of this STEM education.