The Fort Aero Scholarship Award Highlights Future Stars of The Skies

How Fort Aero plays a role in keeping the tradition of aviation education in Estonia going.

Aviation is a field where knowledge and skills play a crucial role. It takes thousands of hours of training to become a pilot and the training never ends. The Estonian Aviation Academy has been educating aspiring aviation engineers and pilots for 25 years and Fort Aero has been proud to provide its support to aviation students since 2014. Twice a year we invite students at the aviation academy to participate in an essay competition to determine the winner of Fort Aero’s scholarship. The Fort Aero scholarship program is the product of cooperation between Fort Aero, the Aviation Academy and the Tartu Cultural Capital Foundation. The winners of the scholarship are selected by a committee consisting of 3 members – 2 from the Academy and the chairman from Fort Aero.

As the entire world around us, aviation is in constant transformation as well. We want to ensure that the progenie of aviators are well versed in not only the technical aspects of their subjects, but also understand the philosophical and moral issues that our industry is facing.

At Fort Aero we value safety above anything else. And safety, as we know, is more about the mindset than just a collection of rules and regulations. We want future pilots and aviation specialists to think about safety from the very first day they even begin to contemplate a future career in the skies. We encourage these future aviation experts to consider the qualities which make pilots truly outstanding, who is responsible for aviation safety and what motivates pilots in their daily work. The essays we have received on these topics have shown us that the next generation of airline captains can lead the way to a safer future in aviation.

Fort Aero, 2018

We have also asked EAA students to imagine what the profession and the industry will be like in the future and how they would shape them. Some of the ideas describing Estonian aviation in the year 2030 may be hopeful dreaming, but we have discovered many solid ideas which could be put in practice already today to help us prepare for the future. Innovation drives the aviation industry and future aircraft will be larger, faster, greener and safer. How will these developments impact the role of the pilot? Can artificial intelligence replace human skills and intuition in the cockpit? Will there be a need for only one pilot in the future?

Excellent pilots do not only exceed in the technical aspects of their work, but also need to be great communicators. Asking them to submit their own thoughts in their own words provides good insight into identifying future stars. We have hired Estonian Aviation Academy students to join us at Fort Aero straight from their graduation ceremonies thanks to the outstanding quality of their writing and thinking. Not only does this ensure that we have the best available talent working for us, we also play a role in keeping the tradition of aviation education in Estonia going. It is a mission we consider to be our privilege.

Fort Aero's Scholarship Fall 2018 Winner Agnes Oberg with Accountable & Training Manager, Mart Lubi.

9.May.2018

Timing is Everything

4.February.2019

EASA Part 145 Certificate Awarded to Fort Aero