Regional Air Cargo Carriers Announce Scholarship Applications Open

Despite numerous press releases and emails, Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association (RACCA) is short on scholarship applicants. The application deadline is a week away, and the company is still seeking more young people to apply. Scholarship applications are designed to help aspiring pilots, aircraft maintenance technicians (AMT) and airline managers to pursue their careers.

“Despite the pandemic, accelerated retirements will mean workforce shortages will return and become more acute when the industry recovers," says RACCA president, Stan Bernstein. "This is not the time to stop your education, and we need to ensure funding is available to help students overcome the barriers associated with the high cost of an aviation education. In recent years, we have helped students pursue AMT, airline management and pilot careers. Ensuring funding is available is an important part of the RACCA mission.”

The RACCA Aviation Scholarships were established for the purpose of promoting and assisting in pursuing aviation as a career choice and to make students aware of the opportunities in the air-cargo industry. RACCA, representing 50 air cargo carriers, many of which feed the FedEx, DHL and UPS networks, provides scholarships to assist in the payment of tuition or flight training, or to obtain new or additional licenses. The organization makes four awards each year in November.

Bernstein notes flying for an RACCA carrier is a valuable way to build flying time because it gives pilots experience in: flying to a schedule; flying in inclement weather; dealing with inflight and procedural issues surrounding cargo; night flying; operating in busy airspace; cockpit resource management issues and required recordkeeping — all of which are part of airline operations. One of the most important things an aspiring pilot can do to build time is to maintain the professionalism and discipline they had as a student.

To qualify for a scholarship, applicants must be:

• a college student currently enrolled in an accredited aviation program
• a resident of the United States
• currently carrying a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.

Scholarship #1 will carry the additional requirement of obtaining a letter of introduction from an existing RACCA member or RACCA associate member, since the goal is for candidates to learn about the air-cargo industry. If there is an RACCA member or associate member in a candidate’s immediate area, candidates should arrange to visit their operation and become familiar with all the opportunities in the growing air-cargo industry. If there is no member nearby, candidates should call a member and tell them who they are and ask questions about the air-cargo industry.

The deadline for applications is October 15, 2022. The selection will be made by November 30. Awards are to be distributed on December 15 to an accredited school.

The RACCA Aviation Scholarship application is available at https://www.raccaonline.org/scholarship.