Eyes Above the Horizon: How Legacy Flight Academy Introduces Underserved Youth to Aviation

Legacy Flight Academy’s Eyes Above the Horizon is a free, full-day aviation experience for underserved youth ages 11–19 that turns exposure into real opportunity through hands-on STEM learning, mentorship, leadership development, and the history and legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen. Students rotate through stations covering aerodynamics, weather, and aircraft systems, participate in teamwork and trust-building exercises tied to real-world aviation and the Red Tails’ WWII escort legacy, and explore college and career pathways beyond piloting, including maintenance, operations, and air traffic control. In the hangar, they learn how mechanics keep aircraft safe and hear about industry shortages. The day culminates with students flying in real aircraft with certified instructors, taking the controls, and gaining confidence, plus a unique look at a C-32 aircraft. LFA is a 501(c)(3) funded by donations and volunteers.

00:00 Aviation Changes Lives
01:07 Program Overview
01:59 STEM Station Hands On
03:39 Cloud In A Bottle
04:13 Why STEM Matters
05:36 Leadership And Tuskegee Legacy
08:06 College And Career Paths
08:37 Maintenance Hangar Tour
10:40 First Flight Experience
11:42 Student Reactions And Courage
14:07 Special C-32 Aircraft Visit
14:41 Nonprofit Mission And Founder Story
16:19 Final Takeaway And Call To Action

Transcript

SPEAKER_10 0:00

To the core, this is about access. It's about opening doors and aviation, STEM, leadership, and legacy. For students who may have never had the opportunity before.

SPEAKER_03 0:10

I love seeing some kids just really like light up and it really makes those connections. Like, wow, maybe I can do this too. I see people out here doing a thing that I kind of want to do.

SPEAKER_06 0:20

But it's because it gives you the experience of overcoming what you were naturally designed to do, which is walk on the earth. And so it's an unnatural thing for us to accomplish. And once you learn that that is possible, you have no more lithics in your life.

SPEAKER_11 0:37

Well, I'm glad you were brave enough to go and try something new. Your life's gonna be full of new things that you're gonna have to try that you may be unfamiliar with.

SPEAKER_09 0:46

You get familiar and that gets rid of the fear. You know, so it ain't just about flying, it's about overcoming, you know, things we're nervous about. So we're gonna do amazing things, other questions, all.

SPEAKER_10 1:01

What if one day could change the direction of a young person's life? What if exposure turned into opportunity? This is what Legacy Flight Academy's Eyes Above the Horizon program is. It's a full-day aviation experience designed for youth. Not just to learn about aviation, but to actually experience it. Because the reality is, most kids grow up seeing airplanes in the sky, but never imagine themselves inside an airplane. They don't see it as something that's possible for them. This program changes that. It takes aviation from something that they watch and turns it into something they actually can do. To the core, this is about access. It's about opening doors and aviation, STEM, leadership, and legacy for students who may have never had the opportunity before. This is about building confidence and not just on theory, but a real hands-on experience and connecting students with professionals. Professionals, mentors, and people who are living it every day in and out. So for those of y'all who don't know what Eyes Above the Horizon is, it's Legacy Flight Academy's program where we introduce unserved youth to aviation, through flight, mentorship, and the history and legacy to Tusky Year, man. So how's the day been going so far?

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Today's been going great. Today's been going great. Um, as KT mentioned, Eyes Above the Horizon does all the things that he that he talked about. One of the cool things is we fly kids from quite young to a little bit older. So on average, from ages 11 to 19, so we have so many different types of students out here. And I think the day is just going well. It was so great this morning to watch the hanger doors open for the first time and to see their energy when they saw what they were about to experience. Yeah.

SPEAKER_10 3:00

Throughout the day, students move through a series of different sections, each one designed to give them a different piece of the bigger picture. They start off in STEM, so science, technology, engineering, and math, where they are introduced to aviation concepts like aerodynamics, weather, aircraft systems. But it's not just classroom, it's emergent. It's hands-on, led by professionals who show them what knowledge actually is when you apply it to real life.

SPEAKER_03 3:28

Yes, I am running the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics station. Um, it is definitely one of my favorite stations, uh, mostly because my background, I went to school for biochemistry and pharmacology, and I used to teach chemistry and physics to high school students. So I do enjoy teaching the wonders of science. Um, but today we try to gear it more towards aerodynamics and aviation. And um what I'm teaching them right now is what basically makes a plane fly. So, including lift, hype of propulsion, the different forces acting on an airplane, and uh what different surfaces control how the airplane moves. So throughout the whole thing, I'm just kind of quizzing them on uh the flight surfaces and what that actually gets you. So hopefully by the time they actually get into the aircraft or if they've flown already and they come back, they can actually put what they learn into use and then see what they actually did and say, why did that happen? So um I like to focus on that, especially when it comes to this, and then obviously some interactive activities because Can you make a cloud and a bottle of something crazy?

SPEAKER_11 4:31

I'm getting to it. Oh, my bad. I was like, I was like, to me, that's the coolest thing. I ain't never seen nothing like that in my life.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

And um, it's something I picked up. So one of the things we talk about is like, what do we need to fly? And one of the things that you have to know about is weather, right? And so the most interactive thing that we can do is how do we um make weather basically in a very contained environment. So what I end up doing is I take an empty water bottle, I have water vapor, you know, put little water droplets on it, and I basically synthesize a cloud in a bottle. Um, you create a high pressure system, you create a high pressure system, and you know, create a low pressure system very quickly, and that's what gets you your cloud.

SPEAKER_10 5:15

So, why is the stem station important for these kids? They'll learn the stuff later, right? Like, why is it important right now?

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Sometimes it's good to learn things outside of the classroom and from people that you don't normally see every day. It sticks with some people, it doesn't to others, but you know, this might be the one thing where it's just like, wow, STEM is really cool. Not only am I sitting here learning about it, but I can actually see it in motion. I'm showing you a little mini plane, but when you look up, you see that plane that you're flying in. So sometimes it sticks a little better coming from me or coming from anybody else who's working with this organization.

SPEAKER_09 5:47

You got anything for the kids or uh parents considering um them coming off to an LFA event?

SPEAKER_03 5:52

Absolutely. This is one of the few programs that allow this opportunity. Um, this has been in for over what 10 years now? I've been working with LFA for over 10 years. Yeah. Um I always answer the call. I love doing these events. I love seeing some kids just really like light up and it really makes those connections. Like, wow, maybe I can do this too. I see people out here doing a thing that I kind of want to do. And um I encourage everyone, this is a free event, and we try to keep it free as much as possible. So we want to thank our partners who help us make that a possibility. So, yes, please come out and have your kids enjoy this because this is almost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to fly in a plane. In a plane. Have the controls. So that's really awesome.

SPEAKER_10 6:37

From there, they move into character and leadership development. This is where students are challenged to communicate and work as a team and to lead. They participate in group-based activities that require collaboration, problem solving, and then they're introduced to the history and legacy of Tuskegee Airmen. Tuskegee Yarmen are a powerful example of discipline, resilience, and what it means to rise above the limitations set by others. Man, that foot right there.

SPEAKER_08 7:09

I agree. Now, this last exercise that we just did that Mr. King pulled off flawlessly here. This got a real world application right here. We're all on one team. You guys are all on one team. I'm splitting you up for just purposes of trying to get this stuff done, but sometimes we're gonna be having to work with people that maybe we didn't intend to be working with, right? Oh, I thought I was gonna be working with so-and-so, and then boom, they put me over here. But you're still on the team. So all those principles still apply, right? Communication, trust being a big one. I was trying to be funny and throw you guys a curve, but the name of the game was trust there. Because he wasn't in your group, but we still gotta trust him because now he is. He's in the team, he's on the team, and he did great. You who who was uh the one that Keen was guiding? And you trusted him, right? How'd it work out for you? I mean he was like right there with you, right in your ear. So that was a real real world moment right there of teamwork and dynamics of that.

SPEAKER_10 8:17

And that ties 100% into the history and legacy of the Tuskegee Hermen. When you think about the bombers that were flying in World War II, they ended up having Tuskegee Hermen, Red Tails, escorting them and protecting them on their bomb runs, and they in no way, shape, or form anticipated that they were gonna have the Red Tails escorting them. And so they had no choice but to trust them. And the Red Tails just did just as good a job as any other fighter escort that would have flown with them, and they had to trust them the same way. They didn't intend for that. They didn't know that they were gonna be the uh the team that was gonna be protecting them, but they were. And they did an amazing job. They had that trust. That's exactly what you guys were exhibiting right now, just like the Tesky Guermin and all the others that fought in those wars. Next, they step into the College of Career Exploration. This is where they learn about the different options for career and for college. Because exposure without direction only goes so far. So students get a clear look at the different directions and the different pathways within aviation. And this isn't just for pilots, it's for careers in mechanics, operation, air traffic controls, and other different roles within the industry. And this is where they really get to understand what it actually takes and what the next steps could look like for them.

SPEAKER_04 9:38

I'm John with Bar Aviation. This is the maintenance hangar. Well, all we do is fix airplanes. Students came over here today to learn how we fix airplanes, what we do, how we make airplanes safe, some of the habits and integrity that we have to have to keep airplanes safe over here.

SPEAKER_10 9:56

That's all good. Any interesting questions that they had so far today?

SPEAKER_04 9:59

Oh, plenty. Plenty of interesting questions. We got to go upstairs and take a trip to see the broken parts and let them actually get a feel, learn about airplanes and even the fabric airplanes, because I have some fabric up there from the There's plenty of interesting questions. How the airplanes work, how they fly, what's the differences between this one and this one, and even how old the airplanes were.

SPEAKER_10 10:21

Yeah, because a lot of planes uh we fly, especially in general aviation, are what from the 70s? 80s, maybe?

SPEAKER_04 10:27

This is a 1959.

SPEAKER_10 10:29

1959, that's older than all of us.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

And it flies like a dream.

SPEAKER_10 10:36

Why do you think it's important for these young people to come out here and hang out in the hangar with you guys?

SPEAKER_04 10:41

It's important for them to learn and see what we do because we're having uh just like the pilot shortage, we have a mechanic shortage as well. Okay. It's important to see what's going on, see what's under the hood, and hopefully get more kids interested in fixing airplanes in the future because we need it. We need it just as much as we need pilots, we need mechanics. Today they got a little bit of an experience with that. I'm an AMP IA, I'm the top level of aircraft mechanic. He's a relatively new mechanic working with me and learning how to do this. And Isaac here at the end, he's going to St. Philip's learning how to be an aircraft mechanic, and he's getting an amazing, the amazing experience of getting to work with us and work on real airplanes that actually fly while he's going to school and getting paid to do it. What? That's cool. They get to experience the three levels here. He's still on his journey to get where we are, and I'm living proof of where this journey takes you. Man, I've been here six years, I've grown so much, it's it's amazing. That's it.

SPEAKER_10 11:41

It really is. And now we get to the moment that changes everything. It's the flight experience. This is where it all becomes real. Students step onto the runway into a real airplane. They're guided by certified flight instructors and planes like Sesame 172s and Piper Warriors. Why is this portion of going out to fly so important?

SPEAKER_06 12:02

Well, it's because it gives you the experience of overcoming what you were naturally designed to do, which is walk on the earth. So it's an unnatural thing for us to accomplish. And once you learn that that is possible, you have no more limits in your life.

SPEAKER_10 12:19

And they don't just sit there and watch, they participate. They get hands-on the controls, and for many of them, it's the first time they've even been in a plane or even be able to see the world in this perspective. And at that moment, something shifts because now it's no longer a dream, it's something they've actually done. And even for those that don't decide they want to be pilots, they've now done something that they've never done and they're able to see themselves being able to do anything. So, tell me how was it?

SPEAKER_09 12:46

That was fun. It was cool. What did you get to see while you're up there? Did you see the whole city? I saw baseball fields. You saw the baseball fields? The one did you play that before? No, I don't think so. Oh, okay. Alright. How'd you feel before you went? Nervous. I'm nervous when he was nervous, huh?

SPEAKER_10 13:01

What? Was it as bad as you thought it was gonna be?

SPEAKER_02 13:03

No.

SPEAKER_10 13:04

No, it wasn't.

SPEAKER_11 13:05

Well, I'm glad you were brave enough to go and try something new. Your life's gonna be full of new things that you're gonna have to try that you may be unfamiliar with.

SPEAKER_10 13:14

You get familiar and that gets rid of the fear.

SPEAKER_09 13:17

You also about flying, it's about overcoming, you know, things we're nervous about. So we can go do amazing things other places, right?

SPEAKER_05 13:25

I'm excited that all three boys accomplished what we came for. Um really overcoming their fears, and they were really psyching themselves out. And like Mr. Mario said earlier, don't let our fears hold them back as parents, and I think that really resonated because we tend to both of us, mom and dad, were very nervous. We were hoping Uncle Kenny would be our pilot. Um but trusted people and putting them out there and trusted in their plan. Um, so we appreciate y'all holding this event and just instilling in them too that it's not just about today and flying, it's about using these lessons and going forth and accomplishing their missions.

SPEAKER_09 14:12

There we go. There we go. And I appreciate you coming out and volunteering helping because you know it takes a village, you know, I say it's a village to raise raise a child.

SPEAKER_10 14:21

We have 80 kids out here.

SPEAKER_05 14:23

It's a lot of kids, a great turnout.

SPEAKER_10 14:25

That's a really good turnout.

SPEAKER_05 14:27

That San Antonio could represent.

SPEAKER_10 14:29

Yeah, any uh anything you got for people considering bringing the kids out or anybody, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:34

Bring them out. Bring them out, come out, volunteer, support them, um, plant that little seed. You never know. I asked my boys, did you think you would ever fly a plane at this age? I never thought they would. I didn't think they would or let them. But here we are, and it's opportunities like this.

SPEAKER_10 14:51

You see that smile on your face? See that? That's what I'm here for. So here, hold that mic. Tell me about that flight. Tell me about it.

SPEAKER_07 14:58

The flight was I was nervous at first, don't get me wrong. But let's see what he just walked me doing it, and I was like, I just had fun. It was a good experience.

SPEAKER_10 15:08

On top of that, we create opportunities for unique exposure wherever possible. For this event, students had the chance to check out a C-32 aircraft, the same class of aircraft commonly used to fly the Vice President of the United States as Air Force Two and other high-ranking government officials. They met the crew, saw the airplane up close, and got a glimpse into this level of military aviation. Experiences like this don't just educate, they inspire and motivate students to see anything is possible. Legacy Flight Academy is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. LFA removes finances as a barrier to aviation for students. So we provide these programs to students at no cost. Our programs are full volunteer and is fully funded and sponsored by donations.

SPEAKER_02 16:01

What sparks your heart to want to establish this organization?

SPEAKER_10 16:05

To oversimplify it, um, I'm a kid from the Bronx and I didn't see nothing like this growing up. I wish that I had something like this when I was younger. I ended up finding aviation and working my way through, but I wish there would have been an easier route. And there's no easy route, so I don't even mean easier route, but I didn't know um, I didn't know what the route was. Um and I wanted to make it easier for people who were dedicated, had the exposure, expectations, and education to be able to go on a path to make it. Because I've seen too many people who had the aptitude, had the education, were smart, but didn't know how to get there. So they go into something else. Because those people who are gonna succeed, they're gonna succeed in something. But I wanted to share this, like this to me, it's one of the most amazing careers I could I could be in is flying. So I just wish people can get it younger. Because I'm like, I missed it for how many years of my life to be able to do this. So that was that was my reason.

SPEAKER_01 17:06

This was my second time. It was pretty easy, easier than school. I even landed and I did a butter. I did a butter landing.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

It was honestly just very surreal in life. Just being in the air, it's like floating.

SPEAKER_10 17:20

So if you believe in creating opportunities like this, if you believe in investing in the next generation, then this is something you want to be part of. This is where it all starts. Legacy Flight Academy. Know the legacy, live the legacy, and grow the legacy.