Expert: D. Norkus - 4/15/2005

Question
Hi, my name is Bonnie I am a single parent of two small children and would like to get started with a piloting license.  The problem is I dont have Credit and I dont have an available co-signer to get the needed loan to start training.  Do you have any ideas as to were I can look for funding?  Anything will be of help.  Thank you for your time.
Bonnie

Answer
Bonnie

Your best chances of getting any free money to begin flight training would be via the Ninety Nines, Women In Aviation or the International Society of Women Airline Pilots. Only a handful of grants will cover the cost of the entire license. Most flight training awards out there only pay a one time amount of $500-1,000 towards the cost of training. (A very limited number are open to student pilots as many grant providers want to see a commitment to aviation by the person already having a PPL.) Also, many awards are restricted to members only, so you may have to join an organization to be eligible to apply. That said, here are your best options:

The International Organization of Women Pilots, aka "Ninety Nines", offers "Future Women Pilot Awards" that provide up to $1000 to student pilots to help them complete their Private Pilot certificate. Among other eligibility requirements, the applicant must be a Future Woman Pilot Member of The Ninety-Nines. Only a handful are awarded annually. The deadline to apply is in January of each year. Get more information on the FWP award here-

http://www.ninety-nines.org/aemsf.html#anchor16069

Additionally, many individual chapters of the Ninety Nines offer their own one time grants to help defray the cost. Some are open to students. The awards are often restricted to a certain geographic area and are based on financial need. To read about them, visit-

http://www.ninety-nines.org/scholar.html

Each year Women In Aviation International also offers several grants to aspiring aviatrixes. They awarded two scholarships for the Private Piot License at this years annual conference (if my memory is correct). Every year the deadline is in December and the awards are given the following March. Since this years winners were just announced, next years scholarships list is not complied yet. Contact them for more information or expect to see the information for 2006 on their website no later than September. You can contact them at scholarships@wai.org Their scholarships page is here-

http://www.wai.org/education/scholarships.cfm  

The International Society of Women Airline Pilots offers the "Holly Mullins Memorial Scholarship", an award reserved
for applicants who are single mothers. They target aspiring airline pilots. You can visit their scholarship page here to see if you qualify-

http://www.iswap.org/html/scholarship_info.html

I have also created my own scholarships site, which may be of interest. (I also contributed to the Ninety Nines link above, so much of the info may be the same.)

www.geocities.com/av8trxx99/page2.html

Do check out my page about flight training and the cost of the PPL. Your license can be done for the least amount of money if you doo it in the most condensed amount of time. You will find lots of helpful information and many links for referance-

www.geocities.com/av8trxx99/FAQ.html

Good Luck

Dottie