Jul 18, 20192 min read

Central Florida Chapter of Black Pilots of America Train Inner City Youth

Updated: Aug 1, 2019

Aviation instructor Danny Fuqua shown instructing 16 year old Timothy Moore how to land an airplane correctly using the school's simulator. Danny Fuqua currently has six active students.

Daytona Beach resident Danny Fuqua, is the Chapter President of the Central Florida Chapter of the Black Pilots of America (BPA). Fuqua has a passion for flying, he also enjoys giving back to the community by teaching the next generation of young black men how to fly airplanes. Fuqua has opened up a new pathway to these inner city youth that they may have never had the chance to experience. His training introduces the youth to the world of aviation and aviation careers and provides local youth the opportunity to meet professional pilots.

Fuqua, who served in the Army for 29 years, attends Daytona Aviation Academy where he is a student pilot in training, who will soon earn his license. The school currently has 25 students and 10 instructors. He also is a member of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP). In addition, Fuqua is co -pastor with his wife, Muriel, of Word of Praise Family Church.

" I have a passion for my community and the youth in my community, said Fuqua. "I want to give back. I grew up in a rural town called Edwards, Mississippi. When I look at the youth today, I believe that if they put 100 percent into what they want to do in life and have mentors, they can achieve anything. In the Black community, we too often look at sports as being a kid’s ticket to success but I beg to differ.’’

Fuqua added, “It’s important to educate our youth about aviation and aerospace careers. For many years, we as a Black race didn’t know much about a lot of these professional jobs in aviation. We didn’t know that we could educate ourselves and meet the requirements for these career fields."

"Aviation is one of the career fields that quite a few Blacks still don’t know much about, said Fuqua. "When Blacks travel we don’t see many Black pilots. We are missing career opportunities in aviation. The Black Pilots of America and Daytona Aviation's goal is to go into our communities and introduce aviation to our kids. We want to let them know that they can get a pilot's license and go into that career field and others including air traffic control, airplane mechanics, aviation or aerospace engineering, airport operations and management,” said Fuqua.

"Becoming a pilot requires attending a local flight school, gaining 40 flight hours of training, passing a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) background check and completing the training, said Fuqua. "It’s a lot easier to do than most people think. I started when I was pursuing my bachelor’s degree. I had a break and nothing to do. So, I decided to go to a local aviation school. I met the physical requirements and went on from there. I have been hooked every since,” Fuqua noted.

The school currently has one aviation simulator with six students sharing it. Fuqua hopes to be able to purchase more simulators for his students in the future.