The Red-Tailed Hawks focused on the Business of Aviation during the March 14-15 meeting series. Friday was held via Zoom and Saturday was hosted by Signature Aviation (KBFI).
On Friday, David Ruiz, owner of Pegasus Aviation presented his aviation story and path to becoming a business owner. Afterwards, we presented the PHAK lesson covering Flight Instruments. Next, the history lesson was a well-researched presentation on Lieutenant Commander La’Shanda Holmes the first Black female helicopter pilot for the US Coast Guard. We finished the meeting with two students presenting their business plans.
Saturday morning kicked off with a discussion about business plans and the students breaking into their flight groups to develop and present a business idea to the rest of the attendees. Afterwards, the students built upon their flight instruments knowledge in discussion and Ishitha Arekapudi, one of our private pilot qualified student members, shared about her experience in writing Cleared for Takeoff, a guide to help people access opportunities in aviation.
Forty Students were divided into small groups and received a tour of the Signature Aviation facilities and operations and Frank Madison and Kylie Giffin from Pacific Northwest Business Aviation Associate (PNBAA) paired lead a Q&A session to discuss their career as well as the purpose, scholarships, and internships available from PNBAA.
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After a healthy lunch, we wrapped up the day with the students gathering to hear from the Artemis ROADS III team about their latest mission objective to design rovers to explore lava tubes on the Moon and to witness a demonstration of the rovers.
