Thu, Feb 25, 2010
Presents Pilots Licenses With Instrument Ratings To Two New
Pilots
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt took his speech on pilot
professionalism to the National Guard Youth Challenge in remarks
made at a special event Tuesday. Babbitt was on hand to personally
present Private and Instrument certificates to cadets Clarence
Wesley Jones and Ryan Armenta. Formerly high school dropouts and
gang-bangers, these cadets completed their high school education
and excelled at the character training and mentoring that was part
of the Youth Challenge experience. The two participated in the "On
Wings Of Eagles Foundation" flight academy for disadvantaged youth,
where they earned their ratings at Trans-Pac Aviation Academy at
Deer Valley Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, and are the first to earn
their pilot certificates through the program.
Babbitt said airplanes treat every pilot the same. "The airplane
does not care who you are or where you came from. I soloed at 16,
got my pilot’s license at 17, and long, long before I became
an airline pilot, or administrator, I spent a lot of hours pumping
gas into a wing tank — someone else’s wing tank.
The pilots in this room know that aviation doesn’t give
bonus points for pedigree: it’s all about skill.
It’s only about skill. The airplane expects you to be smart
and prepared. It won’t ask if you’ve done your
homework, but it will give instant feedback when you haven’t.
The airplane expects you to be diligent and professional."
Babbitt said that message needs to be taken to all pilots, but
"it’s a message that must be stressed to young, new pilots.
Learning what professionalism is at the beginning of your career
means it will stick with you good. And even more important, you
will be able to pass that on to your future co-workers and the
young pilots that will one day look to you for guidance."
"We’re here tonight to honor two young men who’ve
done the hard work and shown the dedication and have earned this
achievement," Babbitt concluded. "An instrument rating is something
to be proud of. These men have grown up and out of tough
circumstances, and they’ve chosen a field where performance
means everything. Gentlemen, when you look at your license,
that’s my signature at the bottom, and I expect great things
from you. So does the passenger. Congratulations."
Jones and Armenta will now become flight instructors for the
next class of OWOEF cadets, set to arrive in the summer of
2010.
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