How to get the young excited about aviation?

[Toobdrvr]

To the OP: I dunno, I’ve never really seen it as my place to get them interested. I think most of that has to come from within, although I do hand out wings/ cards, talk to kids in the terminal, etc. Maybe others are better suited for that job than me…

But if someone shows interest, and a willingness to put in the work, I will do anything to help them succeed along the way (you know this)!

I’ve spoken at several career days, and to kids who’ve shown interest. While I’ve made it a point to illustrate all the things I love about the job and how it has certainly worked out for me, I also try to balance that with the risks, sacrifices, and downsides to it as well. If they’re still in, well GIDDYUP!!!

 

[ZapBrannigan]

If I see one more Instagram hero patting themselves on the back about all the hard work they put in to get from zero to major airline pilot in 36 months... (including the so called "furlough" during which they still received a paycheck..)

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

If I see one more Instagram hero patting themselves on the back about all the hard work they put in to get from zero to major airline pilot in 36 months... (including the so called "furlough" during which they still received a paycheck..)

“When I found out I couldn’t get a X5 and may have to settle for a X3, I nearly spilled my venti soy latte. Things were already so bad that I had to decide if I could afford a venti that morning instead of a grande. But through adversity, we overcome. I decided I could get the venti. And now with PSP and $215/hr as a RJ Capt, I decided to get the X7 instead. I can’t wait to flow to American. Hit the bell, like, subscribe!”

 

[derg]

If I see one more Instagram hero patting themselves on the back about all the hard work they put in to get from zero to major airline pilot in 36 months... (including the so called "furlough" during which they still received a paycheck..)

#SwaynesWorld!

But it's ebb and flow. Todays young quick upgrade is tomorrow's grumpy old man with an entitlement complex. Axxxxxx me how I know!

 

[roundout]

If I see one more Instagram hero patting themselves on the back about all the hard work they put in to get from zero to major airline pilot in 36 months... (including the so called "furlough" during which they still received a paycheck..)

srsly

 

[Lawman]

Fly over there houses and then land in the park they play in…

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=539486558049355

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[KLB]

Fly over there houses and then land in the park they play in…

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=539486558049355

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The Army National Gaurd used to land Delta State's quad for one of the yearly student activities events annually. We had an avaition program though. So I could see it correlating.

 

[KLB]

I honestly say that I can do more on my part. I have been seriously slacking on volunteering with OBAP and doing ACE camps and Summer STEM camps. OBAP does a lot of in school visits also.

 

[Lawman]

The Army National Gaurd used to land Delta State's quad for one of the yearly student activities events annually. We had an avaition program though. So I could see it correlating.

In this case we were supporting a unique historical event with aircraft for the static display backdrop to the memorial site.

The guy with all the stars on his hat in the middle is LtGen Evans (US Army North Commanding) and he’s an aviator (and my former boss) so he got the whole thing together.

We probably spent 4 hours from landing talking to any number of young kids who dragged their parents out of housing to see us and then another 2ish hours this morning doing the same before we had to close up shop and head home for weather. Great interfacing opportunity just too bad it’s on Joint Base San Antonio so it only allows so much access to the public.


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[Pilot Fighter]

How do we get young folks excited about aviation?

We don’t worry about aviation, we simply expose young folks to a donkey-load of interesting stuff.

 

[derg]

How do we get young folks excited about aviation?

We don’t worry about aviation, we simply expose young folks to a donkey-load of interesting stuff.

Cool, but I don't think corporate is going to drop a few million dollars to for a bounce house with laser beams and selfie stations, when they're concerned about the 5-15-25 year plan to get butts in seats, ha!

 

[Lawman]

Cool, but I don't think corporate is going to drop a few million dollars to for a bounce house with laser beams and selfie stations, when they're concerned about the 5-15-25 year plan to get butts in seats, ha!

There’s a reason we spend the millions to have the Blue Angels and Tbirds travel around doing what they do, same as spending millions to do fly overs and static air show displays.

Airlines if they want to be part of a holistic application of effort to increasing interest in aviation need to:
1. Be willing to write some checks and reinvest profits to long term sustainment.

2. Be willing to acknowledge you aren’t cool and won’t be cool, but you can point people in the direction to get to you professionally anyway.


Go fund some flight schools so intro flights are 50 bucks instead of 150… There is a merit badge in the Boy Scouts for aviation… provide a stipend for anybody completing that to claim some 100 dollar gift card or something tangible to make it cheaper. Pay to put an airplane and people smart enough to talk about it at a place like an air show or an event and say “yeah I started just like you…” And with something like that yes there is absolutely an art to getting the right person for that job. The flight display teams have a very good model for spokespeople that can far outweigh flight ability, reach over and ask and they will show you what they do for that.


Aviation is as interesting as race cars or bus/garbage truck driving to a young person, it’s all In accessibility and how it’s presented. And yes pointing people toward the sexy plane with the pointy nose painted grey doesn’t hurt you. The airlines should really realize that partnering with the military who is also desperate to spark interest is a good long term solution to both our manpower issues on maintaining a pool of professional aviators. The coast guard literally uses that as it’s model for training. Go start somewhere else, 6-8 years later come to the coast guard. It’s called the DCA program and it’s literally 3/4 of their aviator pool.


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[Adler]

Go fund some flight schools so intro flights are 50 bucks instead of 150… There is a merit badge in the Boy Scouts for aviation… provide a stipend for anybody completing that to claim some 100 dollar gift card or something tangible to make it cheaper. Pay to put an airplane and people smart enough to talk about it at a place like an air show or an event and say “yeah I started just like you…” And with something like that yes there is absolutely an art to getting the right person for that job. The flight display teams have a very good model for spokespeople that can far outweigh flight ability, reach over and ask and they will show you what they do for that.

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The Mike Patey Program: Super rich successful airplane guy, makes very cool interesting YouTube videos (until his house build series) makes even more money on YouTube videos and make even more money on merch sales. Allegedly uses that to fund a partnership with flight schools to pay for people's first flights.

Also he stands outside his plane the entire day at Oshkosh, sunburned and with a lost voice, just taking selfies and signing autographs, and to me at least seems super super genuinely excited.

General aviation is exciting. Throw a pancake breakfast, sponsor Young Eagles flights. I used to help out with our local airshow in Michigan. Totally self funded, free admission, parking eventually became like $5 a car. The airshow was short, but everyone from the T Hangars parked their planes on the ramp and was throwing kids in their planes for pictures and answering questions all day. The flight school ran rides all day.

 

[scooter2525]

The reverse of this is, how do I get old people interested in aviation? One of my last captain seem really burnt out.

 

[Lawman]

The reverse of this is, how do I get old people interested in aviation? One of my last captain seem really burnt out.

Tell them about Thailand…?

Maybe not that kind of excited. Sorry it’s been a long week.

The Mike Patey Program: Super rich successful airplane guy, makes very cool interesting YouTube videos (until his house build series) makes even more money on YouTube videos and make even more money on merch sales. Allegedly uses that to fund a partnership with flight schools to pay for people's first flights.

Also he stands outside his plane the entire day at Oshkosh, sunburned and with a lost voice, just taking selfies and signing autographs, and to me at least seems super super genuinely excited.

General aviation is exciting. Throw a pancake breakfast, sponsor Young Eagles flights. I used to help out with our local airshow in Michigan. Totally self funded, free admission, parking eventually became like $5 a car. The airshow was short, but everyone from the T Hangars parked their planes on the ramp and was throwing kids in their planes for pictures and answering questions all day. The flight school ran rides all day.

See that’s awesome and it’s a lot to move the needle for some kid who may as well care about anything else. I was lucky growing up Air Force as a kid. I lived in Titusville in my earliest memories and my dad worked with the Shuttle. We stood outside at my elementary school to watch every launch. We had 53’s, F-106s, and a few times an SR-71 that you could see sitting behind a chain link fence while going down the highway from our house to Cocoa so it was easy to get and stay interested for me. That is not at all normal for most kids.


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[Wardogg]

There’s a reason we spend the millions to have the Blue Angels and Tbirds travel around doing what they do, same as spending millions to do fly overs and static air show displays.

Airlines if they want to be part of a holistic application of effort to increasing interest in aviation need to:
1. Be willing to write some checks and reinvest profits to long term sustainment.

Never going to happen. The company as a whole will eliminate the position as soon as they possibly can.

2. Be willing to acknowledge you aren’t cool and won’t be cool, but you can point people in the direction to get to you professionally anyway.

Truth.

 

[ILS37R]

To the original question:

I'm a bit biased, but maybe excitement isn't really what we need here. Kids and younger adults--especially once they hit college-age--can be way more pragmatic than we give them credit for. When I was in college, there was a big boom in Computer Engineering/Computer Science degree-seekers. And, while there absolutely were passionate people among that group, the majority were not. What they saw was an industry with good job prospects and they wanted to be a part of that. Somewhat similarly, how many people get Business degrees because of their passion for middle-management? Accounting? It's seen as a path to a good career.

At the end of the day, aviation is a job and with pros and cons. Right now we're actually in a pretty good moment in the cycle to advertise it as a job with good career opportunities. This has not always (in recent history, often not) been the case. Yes, the price of admission is high, but that's also the case for law or medicine or basically any field that requires an advanced degree. If we can make the case to the capable individuals going into those fields not out of desire but rather pragmatism that aviation has similar prospects, that's a huge pool of prospective pilots.

I'd also argue that while excitement is never bad, it can have a poor interaction with the realities of a job. The bigger the delta between expectations and reality, the greater the risk of burnout. People getting into aviation as a career are well-served to do so with clear eyes. I don't think influencers do the industry a disservice, per se, but I do think they're a better recruiting ground for future Dentists-who-own-a-Cirrus than for professional pilots.

 

[SeanD]

Something I noticed about the younger generation and their opinion on a career as an airline pilot is that many believe you need to be in the military to become an airline pilot.

 

[mikecweb]

The reverse of this is, how do I get old people interested in aviation? One of my last captain seem really burnt out.

Don't flare

 

[scooter2525]

Don't flare