PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, FEBRUARY 16, 2018
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McNary cadets to learn to fl y
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Casey Toavs, a senior at
McNary High School, has
wanted to fl y ever since he
fi rst went up in a plane with
his father, a fl ight instructor.
This summer, Toavs and
another McNary cadet, Noah
Egli, will get their shot.
Both Toavs and Egli have
been selected to participate
in the fi rst Flight Academy
Scholarship Program, where
they will attend an aviation
program at one of six part-
nering universities to get a
private pilot license.
The scholarship, valued at
$20,000, covers transporta-
tion, room and board, aca-
demics and fl ight hours.
The McNary cadets were
two of 120 chosen out of
more than 800 who applied.
“The dream and the goal
was always to become an Air
Force pilot and I saw this as a
great opportunity and a step
to get there,” Toavs said.
Egli, who has participated
in Young Eagles, a program
by the Experimental Aircraft
Association in Independence
that allows kids to ride in an
airplane, always saw the op-
portunity to fl y as nothing
but a dream.
“Being able to do this and
get a private pilot license, it
makes it feel like an actual job
I can do in the future instead
of it just being a dream,” he
said.
To get into the program,
Egli and Toavs had to take the
written Aviation Qualifying
Test and take a physical fi t-
ness exam, which included a
1-mile run, push-ups, sit-ups,
pull-ups and sit reach.
They’ll be assigned to one
of six universities—the Em-
bry-Riddle Florida campus,
Kansas State, North Dakota,
Purdue, Liberty or Auburn.
The
Flight Academy
Scholarship Program is a new
Air Force-level initiative in
collaboration with the com-
mercial aviation industry to
address the national civilian
and military pilot shortage.
AFJROTC has been charged
by the Air Force Aircrew
Crisis Task Force to bring
back the “luster of aviation”
to high school students and
increase diversity in aviation
fi elds.
Civilian airline industry
experts project a demand for
117,000 new commercial pi-
lots over the next 20 years.
The Air Force is currently
short of at least 1,500 pilots
to fulfi ll its requirements.
Both Toavs and Egli have
been in the Air Force Junior
ROTC program at McNary
for four years.
“I was a pretty shy kid and
I needed an extra class,” said
Egli, who is now the group
commander as well as on the
color guard, unarmed and
armed drill teams at McNary.
“I thought I might as well
take this class and learn some
leadership skills and I’ve defi -
nitely grown since my fresh-
man year. It’s a very fun class.”
Toavs and another Mc-
Nary cadet are in charge of
planning the military ball on
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary High School seniors Noah Egli and Casey Toavs have been accepted to the Flight Academy Scholarship Program, where
they will earn a private pilot license this summer.
April 7 at the Reed Opera
House in Salem.
“The want to get into this
program here at McNary
kind of stemmed form my
want to become an Air Force
pilot,” Toavs said.
“I saw it as another oppor-
tunity to help me get where
I wanted to go and I also
thought it was a good pro-
gram that I could learn some
leadership skills from, which
would help me in many as-
pects of life.”
Both cadets plan to partic-
ipate in ROTC programs in
college and then enlist in the
military after graduation.
Egli is going to Oregon
State University.
Toavs has been accepted to
OSU as well as Embry-Rid-
dle, North Dakota and the
University of Portland.
“It’s a different perspective
looking at the earth from that
height,” Toavs said.