Milton Kamura had a revelation while sitting on a plane flying back to New York a couple years ago.
“If I can fly around the world helping people go from place to place to see their families, get to jobs and all of that, and I don’t have to stay on the ground – and I get to be paid for it,” the sophomore said, “I don’t know about you, but that’s a very good deal and I wouldn’t mind doing that for my career.”
It’s a notion that not only set his career path in motion but informs the philosophy behind the newest club offered at Poughkeepsie High School.
The Aviation Club launched earlier this month with nearly 20 members, led by Red Tail Flight Academy Executive Director Carlos Rodriguez, Poughkeepsie Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps instructor Master Sgt. Malachi Carmichael, and Kamura as a student coordinator.
The program uses the three flight simulators installed at the school before the start of this school year as part of the district’s investment in the AFJROTC program. But, fun and games are only a part of what the club is all about. The main idea, Carmichael said, is to “offer the world of flight to Poughkeepsie High School students who may not otherwise have the opportunity” and connect them with a “plethora of careers and opportunities in aviation.”
There is a dearth of commercial pilots and individuals trained in the management and maintenance of flights and planes. It’s the reason Dutchess Community College several years ago started and quickly expanded an aviation program complete with a hangar satellite campus at Hudson Valley Regional Airport.
“We want this to be a pipeline for Poughkeepsie High School to begin producing pilots,” Carmichael said. “There are so many different aviation careers to explore.”
While the Aviation Club meets at the AFJROTC room in the high school, it’s open to all students and several who attended the first meeting were not AFJROTC members. Many said they joined because they either wanted to become a pilot, join the Air Force or focus on aviation in college. A handful said they were simply interested or curious about aircrafts.
Rodriguez expanded their focus. He asked students to call out random professions, then answered each by telling them an aspect of aviation training that applies to the job, or an aviation job within the profession itself.
“Everyone can find their way to a career in aviation,” he said, “if you want.”
He stressed, going to college simply to be a pilot without learning the other skills relating to aviation may leave opportunities on the table.
“Your future is more than just ‘I want to fly an airplane,” he said. “If you want to set yourself up for rapid success in the world, think about (learning) engineering and think about applied engineering.”
The Lee A. Archer Jr. Red Tail Youth Flying Program, inspired by the famed all-Black Tuskegee Airmen Red Tails of World War II, has been operating out of New York Stewart International Airport in New Windsor for more than two decades. The idea behind it and the related Red Tail programs is to expose underrepresented people of color to aviation and the field’s careers by providing training, guidance and scholarships.
Carmichael said the Aviation Club will take cues from the Red Tails in that the students will receive basic flight training, which includes both the academic work in mathematics and science needed to be a pilot and time on the flight simulators. The simulators include settings for roughly 30 different types of aircraft, and all three are equipped with hand and foot controls.
“If it’s only academic, they’re going to get bored,” he said with a laugh, noting it would be about a 50-50 split between book work and simulator experiences.
Rodriguez also plans to bring pilots to Poughkeepsie to speak during their regular Wednesday meetings, as career discussion is part of his planned curriculum. He told the students, “This is supposed to be fun. The club belongs to you,” before asking if anyone had specific professions in mind they would want to hear about. One student asked about aerospace engineers, and Rodriguez told her he may be able to set up a Zoom conference.
Kamura, who has a rank of cadet 2nd lieutenant in the AFJROTC, has been in the Red Tail Youth Flying program since September 2023. About 13 months ago, he took his “introductory flight” at the controls of a plane.
“It was very fast-paced,” he said. “You know, how the brain works, when you get into a novel experience connections are made so quickly you’re not even aware you’re there. I wasn’t able to be the pilot in command as much as I wanted to, but I was able to experience how it feels to be up front instead of being one of the passengers.”
Carmichael didn’t rule out the possibility of partnering with the Red Tails to allow Aviation Club members a chance to fly for real, as well, but that would be far down the line. Some sort of career exploration partnership with Dutchess Community College is also possible.
Kamura wants to be an airline pilot and said he hopes, through the club, his fellow students gain a greater appreciation for pilots and engineers. He said, as he’s gained knowledge and the experience of flying for real, those flight simulators have felt much more like an educational tool than video games.
“As you gain information it feels more like a real-life situation. That’s how I see it,” he said. “They say ignorance is bliss. When you don’t know something you’re not going to know the dangers that can harm you. Once you’re aware of everything that can hurt you, that’s when you have to take it seriously.”
