In a recent feature, Michelle Miller introduced America to an inspiring pilot on CBS News named Jerome Stanislaus, who takes kids of color into the air to fly with him for free. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (via the story), less than 3% of aircraft pilots and flight engineers in the U.S. are African-American. That is obviously way too low, and Stanislaus cites the huge cost of flight training as one of the reasons for that.
Stanislaus says that when he became interested in flying when he was younger, he told himself that he “would never probably be a pilot because [he] actually never saw a pilot that looked like [him].” By taking kids interested in flying into the air with him, he hopes to show them that they can do what he does. At the very least, they get to have fun (one girl in the video says, while flying with Stanislaus, “This is the best day of my life”). He’s also part of Fly for the Culture, a non-profit working to bring diversity to aviation. “I really want to be able to make a difference,” he says, “and this is how I do it, it’s like my purpose.”
Related: Travel Instagrammer of the Week: Black & Abroad
