Working to carry on the legacy and values of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Red Tail Scholarship Foundation is working to increase the number of Black pilots and aviation mechanics who make up only a fraction of professionals in the aerospace industry.
Minority pilots in both commercial and military airfields make up about 3% of all pilots, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, and Black women make up less than 1% of all U.S.
airline pilots. It’s a statistic alarming to the founders of Red Tail and one they are hoping to change. “Aviation is probably one of the most expensive hobbies you can pick up,” one of the nonprofit’s first scholars Torius Moore said.