The Ninety-Nines` News
The Karen Johnson Solo Scholarship
The Ninety-Nines (99s) will award a $3,000 Karen Johnson Solo Scholarship to provide a young woman (age 16-20 at any time during 2017 calendar year) who wants to learn to fly with financial support for flight training through first solo and beyond. In addition, the winner will receive a King Schools flight training course to prepare for a written exam and check ride. The scholarship will be awarded at the Aviation Appreciation Dinner at EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh on July 25, 2017.
The Ventura County chapter of the 99s established this scholarship to honor the memory of Karen Johnson, their chapter chair, who perished in 2013 while flying frost control in California. The 99s advertise the scholarship nationally and promote it to college aviation departments throughout the United States and Canada. Last year, 102 young women with a passion for aviation applied for the scholarship. Twenty-two percent of them joined the 99s within 45 days of the application deadline. With our encouragement, many applied for the 99s Amelia Earhart Memorial Scholarship flight training awards to finish their training. The Solo Scholarship is listed on college web sites and in the financial aid packages furnished to entering students enrolled in aviation programs. The health and future of aviation depends on bringing talented young people into aviation and the Solo Scholarship has been a very effective way to reach them.
The application deadline for this year’s scholarship is July 1, 2017. Information about the scholarship, scholarship rules and a downloadable flyer can be found by clicking here.
The Aviation Appreciation Dinner
The Ninety-Nines are sponsoring a dinner event open to all Oshkosh attendees at 6:00 p.m. on July 25, 2017 at EAA AirVenture. The event will draw Oshkosh attendees with a great nationally known speaker with a timely, interesting topic. Adrian Eichhorn will share riveting tales and risk management lessons learned in his 2016 solo trip around the world in his single engine Bonanza. To prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime flight, Adrian spent four years rebuilding his plane and two years of meticulous planning and preparation. His pictures and stories are both entertaining and informative. Even if a flight around the world is not on your bucket list, you can experience this flight vicariously through hearing Adrian as he describes his amazing 2016 solo flight.
Adrian Eichhorn currently flies for JetBlue and previously flew for the FAA, NASA, General Dynamics, and the Washington Redskins. He is also an A&P with inspection authority and the recipient of the 2016 FAA National Aviation Technician of the Year award. Adrian served 20 years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. His last four years in the Corps were spent as the Strategic Nuclear Operational Plan Advisor to the President of the United States and the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
