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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