I am currently a corporate pilot with a Fortune 500 where I serve as a Captain and Safety Officer. I still do occasional bi-annual signoffs as a CFI in my local area. Additionally, I am a Major in the Air Force Reserves and serve as a Liaison Officer to the Civil Air Patrol where I use many skills learned as a CFI.  I am now type rated in the DA50, DA10, and Learjet, and am a Gold Seal Certified Flight Instructor. I have my B.S. in Professional Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and am currently finishing my Masters in Aeronautical Science. I am a FAASTeam representative.

My Judith Resnik Memorial Scholarship was used at the Santa Monica, California facility. The school gave me the comprehensive training to be well prepared to teach not only in flight, but also in ground school, which I find equally important. The training helped me to pass my CFI and CFII checkride the first time around. I later went on to earn my MEI. The scholarship helped me to later attain my FAA Gold Seal Flight Instructor after my first ten successful checkride signoffs.     

Additionally, without the scholarship assistance I would not have obtained my CFI and CFII until much later on and therefore would have missed many opportunities the last fifteen years. I still have my manuals and lesson plans and consider them to be valuable resources. I hope to go back to full time instructing of some sort after retirement.

Thank you so much for your assistance in being a part of attaining my dreams!

Very Sincerely,

Ava (Sumpter) Shubat