From Flight Attendant to the Flight Deck

Hello! My name is Octavia! I have created this gofundme in order to help obtain the funds required for flight school! In January of 2019 I became a flight attendant with a major airline. I’ve flown with many pilots; mostly white men, several men of color or black men and a few white women but NEVER a black woman or woman of color. After many flights and much thought it didn’t take long for me to see where I truly belonged. The cockpit! In January of 2020 I took my very first flight. Shortly after, COVID-19 took this country by storm and life as we all knew it changed. My flight schedule has been directly impacted as you can imagine and as a result I could not continue training as it is very expensive. (A private pilots license is about $10K-12K @ around $165-$200/hour all paid up front) At this time, to receive training all the way though my Certified Flight Instructor (Mulit-Engine) license would cost me approximately $60K-$80K. Unlike most colleges and universities, flight school is not considered a “school” where you typically take out a loan that is paid out after the program is finished. Scholarships may be given out by individual organizations but the schools themselves rarely do. There are a handful of schools that do offer loans that mimic that of an accredited college or university but they also stand to reach prices of up to $100K plus the interest. Otherwise the average civilian flight school is paid in cash, with credit cards or personal loans despite a full time course load (typically a Part 141 course) which often requires you to be at the school 3-5 times a week. Money is the biggest barrier to this industry. And I intend to break this barrier despite this obstacle. All funds would be used toward flight tuition and additional equipment needed for school including books, flight examiners and mandatory supplies required by the school. Currently, I hold a student pilot license administered by the FAA, I am studying for the private pilot ground test that I am expected to sit for come early fall and will have received my 1st class medical coming on July 16th. If you made it this far I want to sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this post. I appreciate any donations and if you can kindly share this that would be a blessing as well! 

Love,

Octavia