VAI Executive VP Cade Clark (right) speaks with students and members of the Rotor Pathway Program Mar. 11 during VERTICON 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (VAI/f-stop Photography) VAI Rotor Pathway Program launches students into vertical aviation careers Program offers high school students college and technical school credit in aviation-related disciplines and pathways to FAA pilot or mechanic certification. By Mark Huber The rapidly changing career landscape and the high cost of traditional college has many young people wondering about future employment. For those young people, VAI has a message: vertical aviation is hiring. Speaking from the VERTICON Connect stage this week, Greg Brown, VAI director of education and training, outlined opportunities that VAI’s Rotor Pathway Program offers to high school students: college and technical school credit in aviation-related disciplines and pathways to FAA pilot or mechanic certification. Begun in collaboration with the state of Utah in 2019, the Rotor Pathway Program is a first-in-nation model bringing together educators, vertical aviation professionals, and government officials to develop training programs to prepare high school students for STEM careers in rotary-wing aviation. The program is now in 38 schools in programs in Utah and North Dakota, including schools with established aviation programs such as Utah State University and the University of North Dakota. VAI is working to expand the program into other states. Students can get academic credits, receive access to industry mentors and local operators, including direct connection to employers, and qualify for aviation-related internships and scholarships in disciplines including flight training, maintenance, operations, safety, and advanced air mobility (AAM). They also get discounted post-secondary course training with selected partners and additional resources via the VAI Online Academy. “We need to get young people interested in aviation at an early age” to satisfy future workforce demands, Brown said. While the Rotor Pathway Program is directed primarily at high school students, it is also available for young people of post–high school age who are interested in making a career change. And Brown would like to expand the effort to instill aviation interest in elementary school students as well. “We need to get to these young people before they get to high school,” he said, noting that when it comes to maintaining the latest technology, the skills today’s youth are learning will be in high demand by other industries, not just in vertical aviation. “We’re competing with Disney,” Brown said. Vertical aviation will need a larger trained and talented workforce to support the new frontier of AAM, which will be upon us “faster than you probably think,” Brown said. He would like to see more industry outreach to young people, flying helicopters to summer camps among the possibilities. Doing its part, VAI will host a group of local high school students at VERTICON on Thursday. Brown expects the drone cage will be a particularly popular attraction for the group.
