Ed Nielsen
Alex Ellerbee
Back in his days as a youth counselor, Ed Nielsen found that a literal change of perspective shook some troubled teens out of their normal and into a more positive trajectory.
It was a bird’s eye view from a plane, he found, that did the trick on more than one occasion.
“I called it being ground-bound in terms of what you see and what you perceive based on your vision,” Nielsen said about the youth before he took them on a flight.
But the aerial ascent, he added, “gave them a whole new perspective of what was going on and how they fit into things.”
Nielsen—a private pilot, lifelong aviation enthusiast and U.S. Air Force veteran—has since transitioned out of counseling. However, he has managed to find a way back into directing youth toward a successful path in life through a nonprofit organization he co-founded called “Pilots with a Purpose.”
Pilots with a Purpose (PWAP) seeks to connect under-represented teens (including females and minorities) ages 16 and up with the education and experience needed to venture into successful aviation careers.
The group partners with Cargill Aeronautical Academy in New Cumberland to help students excel in pilot training. While education for aviation careers is traditionally a costly expense, corporate partners help alleviate the financial strain on students. Due to factors like pilot shortages at airlines, companies hiring for aviation roles are incentivized to streamline the path to education.
PWAP student Alex Ellerbee is in the process of getting his commercial pilot’s license, which requires 250 hours of training as well as a range of experiential and written assessments. Ellerbee already has his private pilot license and his instrument rating, which allows a pilot to navigate in adverse weather conditions.
Ellerbee is also a student at Penn State York, but flies as much as he can to push his dream forward of being a commercial pilot. He compared his field of study to his peers focused on traditional college majors.
“It’s a lot more practical, a lot more physical,” he said. “It’s a skill as much as it is knowledge.”
According to Ellerbee, “there’s also a risk factor.”
“You have to pay attention to what you’re doing and the consequences for your actions,” he said.
But for students with the drive to be disciplined and conscientious—even if they haven’t been given the chance to prove that part of themselves yet—it’s a promising path.
Besides pilot training, PWAP has affiliations with Harrisburg International Airport and Susquehanna Area Regional Airport for career paths like cargo loading, air traffic control, airport security, airport management and more.
“My goal is to get kids who don’t have an opportunity, don’t have exposure, from the inner city to get into aviation career paths,” Nielsen said. “It’s really that simple.”
PWAP has conducted aviation career days at schools in the region and plans to extend them to more schools in the future. They’re also seeking to partner with more guidance counselors to connect people ages 16 to 22 throughout central PA with aviation careers.
As for Ellerbee, he knew he wanted to be a pilot ever since his mom gifted him with a discovery flight experience one Christmas. When it came time to look for college, he said that he rushed into it, in part due to college being thrust upon him as the number-one option, and, in part, due to the fact that he once felt like piloting was out of reach.
“The cost seems very prohibitive for people that don’t really have much money or come from a lot of money,” Ellerbee said.
But he added that there’s always a way, whether through PWAP, scholarships to academy programs or military routes.
Maybe it’s his nature, or maybe it’s his flying experience that’s given him the confidence, but Ellerbee is full of words of wisdom.
“People in aviation are very goal-oriented. You’re always thinking ahead,” he said. “Slow down, enjoy where you’re at. This time doesn’t last forever, and it’s such a small amount of time when compared to the big picture of how long you’re actually going to be doing it for a career.”
If you’re a PWAP student, Ellerbee said that it means the team believes in you. Perhaps, in addition to the perspective change of flying in the sky, that support is enough to put someone on the right track.
To learn more about Pilots with a Purpose, visit www.pilotswithapurpose.org.
Photos courtesy of Shannon Confair.
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