Will Provide Scholarships, Education Resources

EAA and Microsoft are reporting that they are teaming to provide flight training scholarships and education resources throughout the country in conjunction with the release of the new edition of the Microsoft Flight Simulator software.

EAA and Microsoft have committed to establishing three Microsoft Flight Simulator Scholarships for each of the next three years, giving young aviation enthusiasts the opportunity to move from virtual flight via simulators to the real thing. In addition, Microsoft will provide copies of its new Flight Simulator to EAA's current youth flight training scholarship recipients, including the Ray Aviation Scholarship students, for the next three years as well as offer a discount on the new edition of Flight Simulator to all EAA members.

"Microsoft Flight Simulator has given countless people the experience of virtual flight over the past four decades, and we know many pilots today got their starts with Microsoft Flight Simulator and have used it to keep their skills sharp when they can't be in the cockpit themselves," said Rick Larsen, EAA's vice president of communities and member programming.

"Teaming with Microsoft to provide the newest version of Flight Sim to our EAA community opens wonderful possibilities, especially when it's teamed with actual flight training scholarships for young people. EAA members also have a unique opportunity to save on purchasing their own copy of the newest Microsoft Flight Simulator software."

Along with the youth outreach, Microsoft will be supplying a limited number of Flight Simulator copies to EAA chapters that have facilities to use it as part of pilot training and proficiency. This outreach will be administered through the EAA chapter office.

"We are very excited to partner with the EAA. Their passion for aviation is unmatched and their focus on inspiring the next generation of pilots via the Young Eagles program is a perfect real-world counterpart to what we hope to achieve with our new Microsoft Flight Simulator," said Jorg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator. "The newly established Microsoft Flight Simulator scholarships are a great way to engage with the EAA community and we hope to attend Oshkosh 2021 to further show our commitment to aviation and the EAA community."

EAA and Microsoft have worked together on various projects over the past 30 years, including exclusive simulator installations that recreated the Wright brothers' first flights at Kitty Hawk as part of EAA's Countdown to Kitty Hawk project in 2003 that celebrated the centennial of powered flight.

FMI: www.eaa.org, www.microsft.com, www.flightsimulator.com