YAA News

News Flash 10: 11 May 2016

Youth Aviation Academy Winter/Spring 2016 Graduation Ceremony

Again this year, Tom and Joyce Sherman (founders of YAA) organized an event featuring the three “F’s”: Flying, Fun and Food! The goal of the day was to provide opportunity, encouragement and information about aviation to interested youth in our community.

George S. Roberts Chapter member Mark W. and two other pilots from the Bay Area Black Pilots Association provided flights at the Fly-ins.

While the fly-in participants were waiting for their flight number to be called they could tour a helicopter brought to the event by pilot Jesse Dixon of Delta Helicopters and Capitol Helicopters, where he provides commercial services, flight instruction and tours out of Executive Airport.

Our sincere gratitude to the amazing pilots! The Fly-In wouldn’t happen without each of them, their passion for flying and commitment to supporting our youth and providing this amazing opportunity.

And a very special THANK YOU to McClellan Jet Services for their continued support of the George S. Spanky Roberts Chapter, Youth Aviation Program Annual Fly-In and Picnic event!

Col. Thomas Sherman, Founder and Executive Director of the Youth Aviation Academy, Inc. was invited by Mrs. Cara Alfonso (school principal) to introduce 20 eight grade students to the world of aviation. The class was held every Friday from 1:10 pm to 2:20 pm, starting on 28 February and completing on 22 May 2014. The 12 hours course addressed the following topics:

Day 1: How Do Aviators Communicate? (65 min)

Day 2: Flying Operations Around an Airport (90 min)

Day 3: Essential Parts of an Airplane (30 min)

Day 4: Most Extreme Airports (Video): 10 - San Diego + Intro (15 min); 9 - Madria ( 3 min)

Day 4: Physics and Aerodynamics of Flight (60 min)

Day 4: Homework : Assemble A Model Airplane (to be turn-in on day 7) (5 min)

Day 5 : Most Extreme Airports (Video): 8 - Eagle Vail:19:19 (5 min);7- Courchlevel: 25:20

      2 min); 6 - Kai Tak: 27:21 (4 min)

Day 5: Visual Landing Aids (30 min)

Day 5 : Introduction to AirTraffic Control: Airport Traffic (10 min)

Day 5: Most Extreme Airports (Video): 4 - St Marten: 40:00 (7 min); 3 – St Barth’s: 48:47 (5 min);

Day 6: Classroom Exercise: Airport Traffic Control Simulator (70 min)

Day 7: Instrument Land System (ILS) (30 min)

Day 7: Extreme Airports (Video): 1 - Lukla  53:50 (30 min)

Day 8: IFF, Global Positioning System (GPS), ADS-B (60 min)

Day 9 : Most Extreme Airports (Video): 2 Tegucigalpa 

Day 9: Becoming A TRICON Air Traffic Controller (45 min)

Day 9: Extreme Airports (Video): 5 – Gibraltar: 32:05 (7 min)

Day 10: Classroom Exercise: TRICON Air Traffic Control Radar Simulator (90 min)

In addition, each youth assembled a wooden airplane from a kit (a homework exercise); the assembled airplanes were completed and turned in on Day 7. Also, the youth experienced what it is like to be an Air Traffic Controller via two interactive computer simulations, on Days 6 and 10.

Parents, family members, and friends attended the school open house on 22 May, where they witnessed a few of the students demonstrated their new founded air traffic control skills on the Air Traffic Control simulators.

The Harmon Johnson Youth Aviation Academy Winter/Spring 2014 Graduation Ceremony was held on 8 May 2013, in the Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Laboratory at Harmon Johnson Elementary School in Sacramento, CA.  Eleven aviation cadets engineers graduated from the 40 hour Beginners Aviation. Each graduate received an achievement metal and their Aircrew Wings (first order). The guest speaker for the 8 May event was James Gardner, Jr., age 16 (back row center of the picture above). On 26 November 2013, James became the first youth member of the George S. “Spanky” Roberts Chapter’s Youth Aviation Programs to solo an airplane.  Mr. Gardner successfully completed four trips around the traffic pattern, to include three taxi backs, at Sacramento Executive Airport, in a Cessna 152 aircraft. James’ next milestone is to complete requirements to earn his Student Pilot Certificate.

The graduation was attended by the parents and friends of the graduates and school administrators.

The Harmon Johnson Youth Aviation Academy Winter/Spring 2013 Graduation Ceremony was held on 9 May 2013, in the Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Laboratory at Harmon Johnson Elementary School in Sacramento, CA.  Eleven aviation cadets and five young engineers graduated.  This year, three after school courses were presented: 1) Beginners Aviation: 40 hours, 2) Intermediate Aviation (Phase 2A): 40 hours, and 3) the Aerial Regional Environmental Survey (ARES) of Mars Project (a NASA based aerospace engineering course): 20 hours. Each graduate received an achievement metal; in addition, the four graduates from the Beginners aviation course received their Aircrew Wings (first order). The guest speaker for the 9 May event was Major General (Retired) Mary Kight.  General Kight was the first women to hold the position of Adjutant General of the California National Guard (2010/2011) and the first black female in the United States. The graduation was attended by the parents of the graduates and several members of the George S. “Spanky” Roberts Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.

The week of 16 – 20 July 2012, Col. Thomas Sherman, Founder and Executive Director of the Youth Aviation Academy, Inc., was invited by the staff of the UC Davis School of Education to host a week long Aviation Summer Camp.  The camp introduced 46 young people to the exciting world of aviation. The camp was held in two 3 hour sessions each day. The first session consisted of 25 youth ranging in age from 10 to 12 years of age and the second session consisted of 21 youth ranging in age from 13 to 14 years of age.  The course material addressed the following questions:

Day 1: How Do Aviators Communicate?

Day1:  What Is Involved In Operating An Airplane Around An Airport?

Day 2: What Are The Essential Parts Of An Airplane? How Do These Parts Function?

Day 2: How Does An Airplane Fly?

Day 3: What Technology Is Used To Aid A Pilot In Landing And Navigating An Airplane? How Does the Technology Work?

Day 4: How Does Weather Conditions Effect The Operations Of An Airplane?

Day 4: How Does An Airplane’s Weather Radar Function?

Day 4: How Do I Become An Airport Traffic Controller?

Day 5: How Do I Become A Regional Air Traffic Controller?

In addition, each youth assembled a wooden airplane from a kit (a homework exercise); the assembly was completed and turned in on Day 5.  Also, the youth experienced what it is like to be an Air Traffic Controller via two interactive computer simulations, on Days 4 and 5.

During the lunch period on Day 5, the parents joined their youth and Col. Sherman for a brown bag lunch under the trees.

The Harmon Johnson Youth Aviation Academy 2011/2012 Graduation Ceremony was held on 10 May 2012, in the Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Laboratory at Harmon Johnson Elementary School in Sacramento, CA.  Eleven cadets graduated from the Beginners aviation course and received their Aircrew Wings and achievement metal.  The eleven that graduated on 10 May, join eight cadets that graduated from the Beginners aviation course in May of 2011. The guest speaker for the 10 May event was Lt. Col Michelin Y. Joplin, USAF, Chief Nurse and Commander of the 9th Medical Operations Squadron, Beale AFB, CA. The graduation was attended by the parents of the cadets and guest from the Twin Rivers School District and the George S. “Spanky” Roberts Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.

The 3rd Annual Tuskegee Airmen Fly-in and Picnic was held at McClellan Air Park, CA on 21 April 2012.  Over 120 persons were in attendance, to include 11 of the Harmon Johnson Youth Aviation Academy cadets. Each cadet got the opportunity to fly on a general aviation aircraft for approximately 30 minutes. Eleven aircraft and pilots were provided by the Experimental Aircraft Association, Auburn, CA and four aircraft and pilots were provided by the Bay Area Black Pilot’s Association, Hayward, CA. In addition, a hands-on simulator, housed in a self contain trailer, was provided this year.  Each cadet, as well as, seventy other attendees, got the opportunity to fly a general aviation aircraft in the virtual world.

Photographer: Donald Jackson

Cadets of the Harmon Johnson Youth Aviation Academy were guest of the George S. “Spanky” Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc (TAI) at the opening night of the Red Tail Movie, at the Century Theater in Sacramento, CA, on 20 January 2012.  Twenty 21 cadets were in attendance, along with members of the local TAI chapter and cadets from the local Civil Air Patrol Squadron. Transportation for the YAA cadets, to and from the event, was provided by the Twin Rivers School District.  The movie was quiet an educational and entertaining event for the cadets.

The first annual California STEM Summit was held on 10 October 2011 on the campus of the University of California, Davis.  Several STEM student showcase exhibits were featured to include a Youth Aviation Academy exhibit.  Numerous educators and corporate representatives, from across the state of California, attended the summit and received first-hand knowledge of the various STEM Programs operating within some of the elementary, middle, and high schools within Northern California.

The Youth Aviation Academy STEM Exhibit

A description of the Youth Aviation Academy after school program, at Harmon Johnson Elementary, was highlighted in the program brochure and reads as follows:

The Youth Aviation Academy at Harmon Johnson Elementary

The Youth Aviation Academy (YAA) is an intensive hands-on after school training program that provides 6th and 7th graders with the physics and the history of flight, followed by extensive work in learning how to become pilots.  Taught by Col. Sherman of the Tuskegee Airman, who developed the innovative curriculum, the program’s goal is to open the multiple careers of aviation to underrepresented youth, low income, girls and students of color.  Students work as pilots and co-pilots, while learning how to navigate and control increasingly complex airplanes.  The students and their parents also participate in events at airfields, including co-piloting actual aircraft.  The entire program is free to the students, who are provided with flight outfits and caps.

The participants, who visited the YAA exhibit, got the opportunity to meet 6 of the cadets from the Harmon Johnson Elementary Youth Aviation Academy Program and the school counselor, Mr. Terry Press-Dawson.

Antonio R. Harvey

Sacramento Observer Staff Writer

5-11, 2011

If there is any person or group that can expose Black youth to the field of aviation, the local chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen is definitely at the top of the list.

Last weekend, the George S. “Spanky” Roberts chapter hosted its “Second Annual Tuskegee Airmen Fly-in and Picnic” at McClellan Park.  With the use of four airplanes, the Tuskegee Airmen and volunteer pilots flew 39 kids; up from 27 the following year, the event debuted.

“Many of these kids are underrepresented in their class,” said retired Col Thomas O. Sherman (USAF Reserve), the chapter’s youth director. “For many of them, this is their first-time ever being near an aircraft, and in some cases, first time flying in an airplane.” 

Col. Sherman said all of the pilots participating in the event were Black aerial aviators.  One pilot at the event had a replica “Red Tail” airplane (a signature aircraft used by Tuskegee Airmen pilots) at the event that he himself built.

“This is something that children of color need to see,” Sherman said.  “They need to see that the African American race can own their own airplanes and they can fly airplanes.  This event is also an opportunity to meet original Tuskegee Airmen,” he added. Col. Sherman is also the youth director for the Western Region of the Tuskegee Airmen.

The second of four youth events, a similar Fly-in is scheduled for July 30 at the Hayward Executive Airport.  The Sacramento chapter co-host the event with the San Francisco Bay Area chapter and the Bay Area Black Pilots Associate.  “More than 600 people attended last year’s event in the Bay Area and the pilots flew 59 youth,” Col. Sherman said, “This is something we do as a chapter and we do in concert with other chapters and aviation related organizations”.

 Tuskegee Airmen George W. Porter meets youth

As part of the “Tuskegee Experiment; the Congress mandated an all-African American flying unit within the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941.  In June, the 99th Fighter Squadron formed at Tuskegee Instituted, a historically Black college founded by Booker T. Washington.

The ruling by the Congress, Sherman told The OBSERVER, provided “choices” and opportunities for African Americans who wanted to be in the field of aviation.

“If it wasn’t for the Tuskegee Experiment at Tuskegee Institute back in the 1940’s, (Blacks) would have been excluded from that activity,” Sherman said, “Society then felt that Blacks, African Americans, did not have the intelligence nor the courage to fly in combat…. the Tuskegee Airmen proved them wrong.”

Youth Aviation Academy Highlighted on Local News Program

Col. Thomas Sherman, Executive Director of the Youth Aviation Academy, was a guest on the program “Sacramento and Company”, on 22 April 2011.