Ready 9 Aviation Academy is an evolution of Southern Maryland Seaplanes, which focuses on providing specialty flight instruction for rated pilots. This new chapter builds on that expertise to bridge the gap between existing STEM programs in Southern Maryland and a hands-on instructional experience in an airplane.
Southern Maryland is host to an extremely robust aviation industry, with Naval Air Station Patuxent River’s flight test, engineering, and program management workforce, and numerous nationally and locally-owned companies supporting those efforts. We have a unique, and perhaps unmatched level of expertise available to shape the future of aviation.
Our goal is to build an “Every Student Flies” program that offers every high school-aged student in Southern Maryland to receive a free hands-on flight in an airplane.
Ready 9 Aviation Academy mission: To promote aviation as a STEM career field and educate youth and adults through flight instruction. We currently provide discovery flights, and specialized flight instruction in tailwheel aircraft and seaplanes. Our vision is to create a state-of-the-art flight training program that offers a free instructional flight to any high-school aged youth in Southern Maryland.
Why is it important to Patuxent River? Our community boasts a rich and diverse cross section of the aviation industry with the thousands of jobs on/near NAS Patuxent River. The aviation industry, and Naval Aviation, is more than just pilots. We need logisticians, program managers, engineers, schedulers, air traffic controllers, maintenance technicians, operations experts, and more for our manned and unmanned aircraft. While not the focus of the Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base program (www.buildsubmarines.com), Naval Aviation and Pax River need a high quality workforce. Why not grow that from within the area?
Getting hands-on time in an airplane is something that few people actually have the means to do or the opportunity. We want to provide that through a subsidized program. There is a highly-qualified workforce within the county to mentor and teach our youth, and help us grow. There are several STEM-focused groups already with links to the base and aviation, but we are the only ones trying to get youth into airplanes to experience flight first-hand. I believe that we can complement existing organizations.
We have been mentored by the founder of the Aspen Flight Academy (https://aspenflightacademy.org). They’re in year 8 or so and have grown into an incredible flight school with great partnerships.
For more information check their website: https://www.r9aa.org/