- My name is Zakiya Percy.

I am a Certified Flight Instructor, Certified Flight Instructor Instrument, here at Luke Weathers Flight Academy.

I am originally from San Francisco, California, and once I finished my bachelor's degree in Houston, Texas, two days later I relocated for Luke Weathers Flight Academy.

- (male announcer) Zakiya Percy dreamed of being an airline pilot but growing up without a lot of financial resources or family connections to that professional world, it seemed like an impossible dream.

- (Air Traffic Controller) Archer five three seven alpha.

Wind two zero zero at four, ru nway one eight, clear to land.

- I loved airplanes.

I would love to see them in the sky.

However, when I looked up how much it would cost to become a pilot, it said $100,000 additionally from tuition.

And remember you want to bring out a little bit more power instead of being on the brakes.

Just a little bit, below 1000.

- Clear left.

- Clear right.

I knew at that time that it probably wouldn't be possible so I kind of set my eyes on the engineering side.

If I could at least make it to college, then I would be able to work around planes.

Bear right.

- (Air Traffic Controller) Cessna 4, 4, 2, 3, correct.

Turn right taxi way Delta, then taxi to Luke Weathers via Delta alpha golf monitor ground point two.

Good morning.

[plane engine rumbling] - When I moved to New York, ev ery time I come home to visit it was about a five or six hour flight.

And I would be so excited, I would get to the airport like two to three hours early.

I actually loved the whole process of going through TSA waiting in the lines, you know, being at the airport super early, just so I can get a nice seat near a charger and windows so I can see the airplane sequence in.

- (Air Traffic Controller) Says 4, 7, 8 56 Olive Branch grand runway one eight taxi, via Delta, Alpha.

- So when I got on the planes I would, you know, try to guess or wonder where we would be or how long it'll take us to get to our destination.

And then I would try to guess when they're gonna do their initial descent down to the announcement.

And I got pretty good at that.

[plane engine purring] And I realized on those flights back and forth that this is just so mething I really wanted to do.

And like anything else before, I felt like if I can break the barriers to become a first generation college student I can definitely continue on and break more barriers.

We're looking for a positive climbing of one hundred feet.

We would still land or remain on runway, let's maintain runway center line.

- (male announcer) Today, Zakiya is a Flight Instructor at the Luke Weathers Flight Academy in Olive Branch, Mississippi, a school sponsored by the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals.

Its mission: to expand access to flight training and grow and diversify the future pilot pipeline.

Carlin Bratcher is one of her current students.

- It was really a blessing that I found this school.

Being here at Luke Weathers Flight Academy, it makes me, it gives me hope.

It gives me inspiration to like, wow, it's really people that look like me that are doing these things.

- And we're clear to the right.

- We're clear to the left.

[uplifting music playing] Going to make my turn, now one.

[uplifting music continues] [plane engine humming] - (male announcer) The aviation industry is a growth sector nationally and a key economic sector in Memphis, a historic hub for air shipping as well as passenger flights.

As a retired FedEx pilot, Albert Glenn knows the area and the industry very well.

He is the director of the Luke Weathers Flight Academy and one of its driving forces.

- I learned how to fly here at Olive Branch Airport, did my first solo flight here and I spent the next almost 46 years with 44 of it being at FedEx and working there as a pilot and working as a general aviation Flight Instructor.

This was kind of born in what we call Project Aerospace with the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals.

And the idea was to build a pathway.

So we started with putting together programs to meet kids in middle school and high school and then allow them the opportunity to be able to fly.

And so we started with the solo flight academy which originated in Tuskegee, Alabama but we had the opportunity to be able to move it to Memphis, the one that OBAP sponsored and that gave us a chance to kind of re-envision what flight training would look like.

The original OBAP was the Organization of Black Airline Pilots.

And it was started in 1976 and the objective back then was to help diversify the industry, but to help black pilots be able to get into the airline industry.

It was really challenging and it required a lot of support.

So it stayed as the Organization of Black Airline Pilots into 2006, and the name was changed Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals.

And the idea was, is to try to do provide more diverse opportunities for individuals in the airline industry.

And so they changed the name to be more than just pilots but to include engineers, aircraft technicians flight attendants, air traffic controllers.

And so they've developed a number of different pathways to help students get involved in the aviation industry, whether it be in Aviation Career Education Academy or with our aerospace professionals in schools working with the National Flight Academy, just different STEM programs to help students you know, see the career, fair opportunities in aerospace.

In 2018 a building became available here at Olive Branch Airport.

And we were able to start a nonprofit flight academy in support of helping students who wouldn't normally have or young people who wouldn't normally have the opportunity to be able to afford the high cost of flight training by offering a lower cost in training and getting sponsorships and scholarship donations to help them pay for their training.

- (male announcer) That training is extensive.

A would-be airline pilot has a long journey ahead of them.

It's expensive to do all on your own.

- What does yours say?

A lot of students are first generation aviation students and mentorship is very, very, very imperative especially when you're at the beginning stages of your journey.

You start with your Private Pilot's License.

So that's, you know, when you experience your big solo, you learn how to operate the aircraft solo after you've learned with your instructor.

You can- you'll become a licensed pilot but you will only fly when you can visually see outside.

And so those are called your Visual Flight Rules.

After that a student has a choice whether they want to continue and get their Commercial Pilot's License which is your for hire license and you're still on a single engine aircraft or the way that most students do it in training, they'll get their instrument rating which is instrument flight rules, and then you get your Commercial Pilot's License.

So in total, for training to get your Commercial you have about 250 hours of flight training and it's pretty extensive.

You have aeronautical experience for each license or rating.

So it's outlined by the FAA what you have to complete in order to go up for your check ride for that license or rating, after you get your Commercial.

So it's kind of like a fork in a road.

Since you got your Commercial, you're technically for hire.

So a lot of people do like aerial tours or sightseeing, you know you can go up and you can take people up for flying for hire but you do of course have certain rules to that.

But since you're still on a single engine aircraft most people will go and get their Commercial Multi Engine.

And so that's when you feel a lot more cool, you have two engines.

You know, it's exciting.

We're actually- the certified Flight Instructors here are actually in multi engine training currently.

So we can't wait to get two engines or more.

So you'll go and get your Commercial Multi Engine.

At that point, you have different categories of jobs.

So a part 135 carrier, you could fly cargo.

It's like smaller airplanes, maybe shorter routes.

Once you get your private instrument and commercial you kind of have multiple different options.

And the purpose of the options is for you to build your hours to your ATP minimums with which is Airline Transport Pilot.

And so I chose to become a Flight Instructor because I actually enjoy teaching but that's not always gonna be the choice for someone in their time building phase for their ATP minimums.

And so it's a pretty popular ch oice to become an instructor.

You have a regular set of students, you fly with them daily, you fly with them through their licenses or ratings and then it takes you about a year and a half or maybe two depending on how many students you have to get your hours to go to the regional airline.

So the regional airlines are about 90-seater aircraft.

They fly for the major airlines which would be United, Delta, you know, the other major airlines would be Southwest, FedEx, UPS but only some of those major airlines have regional airlines connected to them.

Once you get there, you- it depends on your seniority number.

So you're in an airline environment.

You start off as a first officer, eventually you build enough time to receive a captain upgrade.

You have to go through training to become pilot in command.

And then from there, it's all about whichever airline you wanna go to- what are they looking for?

So each airline has their own minimums or they have their own requirements.

And I think as a pilot, you kind of set your eyes on a particular airline.

So you can work towards being the perfect applicant for that airline.

So if they require you to have a bachelor's degree then you have that, you check off that box.

If they require you to have 500 hours of pilot in command then you make sure you check off that box before you apply.

And just whatever else you can bring to the table, like volunteer experience.

So it's all about the journey of becoming a well-rounded applicant for your dream airline.

- One item that stands out probably much larger than what you see at a lot of flight schools is the number of female Flight Instructors we have, number of female students we have.

Our makeup is probably about 20% with just a point to a couple, couple left for jobs.

Fifty percent of our instructors we re female instructors.

And so, you know, providing an opportunity that is not gender biased and in a place where they're working with others who look like them and can share some of the challenges plays a important part with someone in terms of how they make a decision where they want to spend their money and where they want to go for training.

And let's face it, even though I'm from Memphis, I still think in, and I've seen all over the world.

This is one of the best places I think to come.

Weather's not Florida, weather is not Arizona weather but it's a great place to come and being a very cost effective place to come do your flight training.

- (male announcer) African-Americans account for just 3% of pilots and flight engineers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Women make up 6% of the profession.

Advocacy organizations estimate that there are fewer than 150 working black female pilots.

The Luke Weathers Flight Academy is committed to boosting those numbers.

- So by the year 2025 we wanna have 50 certified Flight Instructors.

We wanna have 125 high school academy pilots, one hundred black women trained to fly and 50 airline pilots.

- It's one of the things that's most important is utilization of the checklist.

Working at FedEx gave me an opportunity being in leadership roles.

And at one point I had the opportunity of being responsible for hiring pilots at FedEx.

And so it gave me a view of being able to talk to those new pilots and talk to potential pilots for FedEx ando see their journey.

But also being involved in it for 44 years I got a chance to see what that looked like.

And then compare the way I went through.

It took me four instructors before I found somebody who would teach me how to fly, and this was in the '70s and the person that I- probably tells the story much better than I do.

He's 80-some years old now.

And he, he's quick to tell the story about teaching me how to fly and the challenges that went with the fact that I couldn't find anybody.

When you say cockpit prep, he's gonna say complete.

And you'll say complete.

Well, a lot of that is changed now and having mentors and those who've been there and understand, you know, what professional development needs for you to be successful in the industry.

And those are the parts that we bring along along with being able to stay involved in the whole training process for student.

[inspiring music playing] - (male announcer) The school's name was chosen to honor an industry pioneer from Memphis, who was also a national hero.

Luke Weathers Jr, a World War II combat pilot known as one of the Tuskegee Airmen.

[inspirational music continues playing] - Historically African-Americans wh o went into the military clean the latrines, were cooks.

There was a stigma in this country about African-Americans having the ability to be- to go any further in the military than those particular categories.

They had these displays and Senate hearings, congressional hearings, this part in African-American brains shows that he can't operate mechanical machinery like airplanes, et cetera, et cetera.

The NAACP had filed a lawsuit against the United States and the result of the lawsuit was that they had established a training program for African-Americans in Tuskegee to become pilots.

The program was designed for African-Americans to fail.

It was not designed for them to succeed in any way.

- (male announcer) As another former airman Coleman Young, later mayor of Detroit told journalist Studs Terkel, "They made the standards so high we actually became an elite group."

Luke Weathers stood out as a hometown hero for his role in promoting the sale of war bonds in the Mid-South.

- Back in those days, people don't realize we didn't just go to Congress and allocate money for war.

We had to sell war bonds.

Lieutenant Lee was in charge of the war bond campaign in Memphis, Tennessee, and he had three fundraiser and the African American community- they initially raised $303,000, wh ich was enough money to build a B-24 Liberator bomber.

In recognition, and in those days, the army an d the Air Corps were together.

The Army Air Corps named a bomber, the Spirit of Beale Street.

So my grandfather got together with Lee.

They came up with this thing and actually I got permission from the mayor at the time.

And that day, June 25th, 1945 was designated Captain Luke J Weathers Junior Day.

And he received the keys to the ci ty of Memphis, two firsts.

And there was a parade down Beale Street that came around the old, what is it?

The Danny Thomas Boulevard, which is Wellington Street back in those days.

And it was just a couple blocks around, but that had never been done in the city of Memphis before.

- (male announcer) Luke Weathers the Third remembers his father's struggle to find the right career path after the war.

- When I was born in 1950, he had moved- he and Mom had moved to Jackson, Tennessee, and there he was furthering his education at Lane College and also had established a flight school called the Jeffrey Weathers Flight Academy.

Okay.

Aviation was the realm that he should have been in that he escalated in as far as becoming the first African-American air traffic controller in Memphis.

And see, that was a stretch in itself.

He was hired in 1960, but they didn't have a duty station for him in Memphis, Tennessee until 1965.

So they hired him, but then they shipped him off to Alaska for four years, and then he had to transfer here.

So in 1965 he became the first African-American air traffic controller in Memphis with the FAA.

- You know, Memphis has a number of heroes, and Lieutenant Colonel Luke Weathers was one of those and, you know, trying to maintain that legacy of his name.

And it looked like such a perfect fit because he's been part of my flying career from the very beginning being that he was a local here in Memphis.

And so remembering all that he went through and the challenges and how he dealt with that at such a high level of professionalism.

I mean, it was the professionalism and the patience to deal with some of the challenges they went through set a bar that made it easy for me to be able to see this is what it looks like.

This is the challenges, just because somebody doesn't want to teach you how to fly doesn't mean there's not somebody else out there that's going to, so you go, well, as I say you just brush it off and move on to the next.

And I think a lot of that had to do with just watching how he handled himself.

[introspective piano music playing] - It took quite some time to gain a mentor in aviation.

And that's why I feel like programs like OBAP, Sisters of the Skies Luke Weathers Flight Academy is just so important.

[machine clacking] - I'm not afraid of Heights.

I love the sky every beautiful day.

I feel like it's a blessing that's given to me from God.

I know people be like, well, why, what makes you wanna fly?

It's just simply the sky.

I used to be a flight attendant.

When we took off some days it'll be raining.

And as soon as you get over the clouds, it's so beautiful.

The sun is shining, so that was my inspiration.

I was a flight attendant for nine months.

I wanted to be a pilot but then I was like, let me go be a flight attendant to get the experience he was going on.

When I went to be a flight attendant, my third week on the job, I got to do a ferry flight with no passengers.

And the captain was like, come sit up here.

So I went and set up there.

We took off, we landed.

I called my mom, I said, "I'm gonna quit today.

She's like, "What do you mean?"

I was like, "I'm gonna quit, This is what I want to do."

She was like, "No, just stay for your probation period."

So that's what I did- stay for my probation period.

And, you know, I talked to a lot of pilots while I had the chance.

And then I quit and started flight school right away after my probation period.

- A lot of the instructors here, we probably, you know, moved to multiple different states in order for us to get here and a lot of our students are 17 or 16 and it's- it's beautiful and it's a joy to find a student that maybe started their solo at 16 and then you know, a few years later you see them and now they're instructors at 21 or 20, you know So it's such a great experience that all of these programs like the Solo Flight Academy and the ACE Academies and the different partnership programs that Luke Weathers and OBAP has, can promote, you know- promote pilots younger, promote people in STEM education younger in general.

- Forty years ago, the number of black airline pilots, ninety percent of 'em were military trained.

It was very rare to see a civilian-trained black pilot flying at an airline.

You might have saw- found some that were military and had some civil- some general aviation background but as a whole 90% or more were all trained through the military and that's changing now.

And that's one of the areas that Luke Weathers is now the academy is now providing as an opportunity for those students to have a different pathway than what those that went through 40 years ago, and even further back on their way to getting an airline job or just being professionals in aerospace industry.

It always had the look of the military was the best way to go because it was the one way of keeping, not having to have a hundred thousand dollar college bill to go along with getting into a new career.

- (male announcer) Th e Luke Weathers Flight Academy is making good progress towards the ambitious goals set for its first five years.

- Here at Luke Weathers Flight Academy, we have nine certified Flight Instructors total.

We have 72 students enrolled.

We have 54 working towards their private pilot, 10 working toward their instrument and six working toward their commercial license.

We partner with Southwest Tennessee Community College.

Pretty much it's like a dual enrollment system.

They can go to Southwest Tennessee Community College and take classes and still come here and get the ratings that they need, whether it's Private Pilot, Commercial or Instrument.

- (male announcer) In summer 2022 student Carlin Bratcher earned her private pilot license.

- So this is my certificate and everything went really well.

And I'm very proud of this.

This is a lot of work, so next will be my instrument.

So that's what I'm working on now.

And I take my written next Wednesday, take my written.

And then after that I will be working to finish up on instrument.

After I finish with my instrument I'll be working on commercial and then CFI.

When I take my written for instrument I'm also gonna take my written for CFII because those are two tests are similar.

I also have class starting on the 22nd at Liberty University online and I'm getting my bachelor's in aviation.

So I'll be taking those courses as well.

And then when I finish with instrument I'll be turning that rating into them so that I can get the credit for that.

And then I'll be here over the next year.

I'll probably be here for the next year until about this time building up my hours and also instructing here as well.

- We came here and we had an assignment, me and Carlin and we just made sure that it was done.

I cried, she cried first and I wasn't going- I wasn't going to cry but we were all having an emotional time.

And the DPE was like Zakiya, she's so well trained and she's gonna be an amazing pilot.

And everybody was just teary eyed.

And it was funny.

Like, it was a funny experience but it was also, like- it's just all happening.

It felt like it was perfect.

- I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else though.

Honestly, I feel like being a person of color and being around people of color helps the process, 'cause we really understand each other and really can build each other up.

And that's what they do a lot of, building each other up, giving you a lot of motivation.

I was just talking to one of the CFIs the other day saying that we feed off each other's energy and we just really help build each other so I'm really glad to be here.

- (male announcer) Fo llowing through on its mission to grow and diversify the next generation of aerospace professionals like Zakia Percy, Carlin Br atcher, and their colleagues, The Luke Weathers Flight Academy really is where dreams take wing.

[inspirational orchestral outro] [plane engine rumbling] [orchestral outro continues] [acoustic guitar chords]