Program Being Led By Three New York City Police Officers

Three NYPD officers are spending their summer teaching inner-city New York kids the fundamentals of flight, and their effort recently received a substantial financial boost from the city of New York.

United Youth Aviators was created by officers Winston Faison, Milton Davis Sr. and Cletodell Titus, who started the program with their own money and volunteered their time to the effort. In its first year, nine teenagers were giving an opportunity to learn about flight, and rack up a few hours actually flying a Cessna 172.

Television Station WPIX reports that Titus began flying after he joined the NYPD. He, Davis and Faison are among the small number of African-American professional pilots. Of the first class of nine youths, seven are male and two are female.

The six-week program, and by the time the students complete the curriculum, they will know the basics of flight and log about 12 hours in a Skyhawk.

The program has attracted the attention of Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams and NYC Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel, who recently presented a check for $20,000 to the three officers to support their effort. “We always tell our young people to 'reach for the stars’ that ‘the sky is the limit’, they are literally in the sky,” said Ampry-Samuel.

(Image from United Youth Aviators YouTube video)

FMI: Source report
www.unitedyouthaviators.com