2 lucky winners of Aerprize were announced at the weekend. In normal circumstances they would be off to California for 6 weeks in the middle of their summer holidays for all-paid training for a pilots license. But in these not-so-normal circumstances, that has been pushed back to the following summer. Something to look forward to nonetheless!
When I say they are 'lucky' though, that needs to be seen in context. To get to this point the students had to Produce a 5 minute video that describes the underlying science behind flight and to do so in scientific detail, providing the level of information required by a pilot to pass a technical knowledge exam. Just the sort of thing that many of us would undertake to do - and then give up when we saw just how challenging it is.
A selection of those who produced a video were then invited to Baldonnel Aerodrome one Friday in March- just before the shutdown took hold. There, they were subjected to both tests and interviews and had a go in a flight simulator. From that process the two winners finally emerged. They were Patrick Gowran from Kinsale Community School and Adam Quin from Castleknock College. Well done to both.
Aerprize is the creation of Angel City Flyers - a California flight training company, and the ISTA. Both of whom surely deserve enormous credit for putting together such a great competition and sponsoring the whole thing.