3.4% of airline pilots are black. Hutton Aviation wants to change that!

You can see one of the largest racial disparities in the United States labor force simply by tilting your head back and gazing at the skies. 

There are 211,000 commercial pilots in the U.S. and only 3.9% of them are black.  Only 3.4% of airline pilots are black.  This gap is even larger in our military.  Out of the 14,000 pilots in the United States Air Force, only 300 are black.  That is less than 2%.

Odds are this disparity is even larger in Mississippi and specifically in Jackson, MS. 

Hutton Aviation owners, Michael and Steve Hutton, have created the Minority Aviators Foundation, an organization dedicated to narrowing the racial divide in aviation.  The intent is to raise a minimum of $75,000 per year and to award at least four aviation scholarships funding the training for four young minority students to become pilots.

“For someone to simply write a check in order to get your private pilot’s license would cost somewhere between $15,000-$20,000, and you would end up with about 75 hours in the air on average,” said Michael Hutton, co-owner of Hutton Aviation. “And then to become an airline pilot you must have 1500 hours in the air. That check would be closer to $350,000 to buy that type of training. Who has that kind of money simply to train in hopes of getting an airline job?”

“I know one black pilot,” said Steve Hutton, the other co-owner of Hutton Aviation. “I met Charles when my son Michael and I were heavily involved in the Civil Air Patrol several years ago, but other than that, I don’t know any black pilots.”

Jackson, MS has long been connected with racial strife and civil rights injustices.  Following the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Medgar Evers, a civil rights activist from Mississippi, worked hard to gain admission for Black students to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). The first NAACP field secretary for Mississippi, Evers also helped organize boycotts and led voter registration drives. Because he thought Mississippi was “too racist and violent” for lunch counter sit-ins, “The Tougaloo Nine” chose the Jackson Public Library for their famous sit-in. Evers was assassinated by a Ku Klux Klan member in 1963, the same day President John F. Kennedy delivered his civil rights address.

What better place to help narrow the black pilot divide than in Jackson, MS; specifically at Hawkins Field, located in the heart of inner-city Jackson.  And what better path to narrow this divide than to create aviation scholarships through the Minority Aviators Foundation. 

The scholarships will be named the David E. Harris Scholarships, named after arguably the biggest name in black aviation history.

Captain David E. Harris was an aviation pioneer who knocked over one of industry’s highest racial wall.  Harris became the first Black commercial airline pilot to ever be hired by a major U.S. commercial airline, American Airlines. 

He later became the first Black to achieve the rank of captain. 

During his 30-year career with American Airlines, David piloted the Boeing 747, 727, 767, Airbus A300, Douglas DC-6, DC-7, Lockheed L-188 Electra, BAC One-Eleven, and the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. 

The Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum features Harris and his uniform, hat and other memorabilia in its “Black Wings in Aviation” exhibit. 

“The foundation board would choose local students based on a criteria of school grades, teacher and community leader recommendations, and a strong desire expressed through a written essay,” Steve continued. “We would not only pay for their flight training, but also all of the expenses necessary to even begin that training.”

It is estimated that the foundation will spend $18,750 per student which will include:
-75+/- hours of airplane rental and fuel
-40+/- hour of dual instruction
-Ground School (In- Person Classes)
-Ground School (Online Supplemental Classes)
-Ground School Materials
-Medical Certificate Examination
-Aviation Headset
-Flight Bag