Flying High

Caleb was 8 the first time he flew in an airplane. He sat in the window seat right behind the wing. He was fascinated by how the wing moved during flight. After that trip, he tried to get the same seat whenever he and his family flew somewhere. 

As often as he could, Caleb stayed behind after flights to talk to the pilots. He asked them technical questions about how the planes worked. Pilots sometimes invited him into the cockpit to take photos and look at the controls. Caleb admired how kind and confident the pilots were. 

On his 10th birthday, Caleb flew on his first discovery flight. That’s a short introductory flight for people who are interested in flying. The pilot explains how the controls work and talks about everything that happens during the flight. “That was the first time I was in a very small aircraft, and it’s a different experience since the pilot is right next to you,” Caleb says. He was hooked. 

Caleb started taking flying lessons once a month. The lessons were expensive, so it was difficult for him to get in as much practice as he wanted. Eventually his parents gave him a flight simulator. The simulator sits on his desk and looks sort of like a video game. It lets Caleb practice flying a plane right from his bedroom. 

Caleb became determined to get his pilot’s license. He mostly wanted to be a pilot because he loves flying. But he had another motivation as well: to expand people’s ideas about who can fly an airplane. Right now, the majority of pilots in the U.S. are white and male. Caleb wants to change that. “I want aviation to get to a point where everyone can pursue it, regardless of their race or gender,” he says. 

Caleb is inspired by a group of pilots called the Tuskegee Airmen. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military pilots in the United States. (Caleb’s school, Charles Herbert Flowers High School, is actually named after one of the Airmen.) Caleb considers these famous pilots role models. “They proved that race can’t stop you from chasing your dreams,” he says.

Over the years he was working toward his license, Caleb always managed to fit his passion for flying into his busy school schedule. He would often wake up early to finish homework before school. After school he’d spend a few hours flying before coming home and immediately hitting the books. “It was definitely a crunch trying to get all my work done,” he says. 

Thanks to his dedication, he won a scholarship that helped fund his flight training. After completing 12 solo flights and passing a written exam, he earned his private glider pilot license in 2021, at the age of 16.