23-year-old Rasheed Graham would have been the first Black student to participate in the Aer Lingus Future Pilot Programme, but he lost his scholarship and needs our help.
Graham “has been given £44,000 towards an Airline Transport Pilot’s License course by the airline, but must now raise the rest of the £104,000-bill. The money must be raised by January 2021 when the course re-starts and currently Rasheed has raised just over £8,000 after producing a video about his situation,” Metro.co.uk reports. Graham says, according to the site:
“Heartbroken is probably the best word, this is the only fully-funded programme for aspiring pilots who do not have the financial means to become a pilot, so essentially I had the golden ticket. Aer Lingus has been superb. I couldn’t have asked for anything more, especially the pilots union. They made sure we were looked after during this period. Becoming a pilot is a very elitist career, the training costs over £100,000 at some of the best flying schools and this is somewhat impossible for people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
“After my crowdfund I would like to use my platform to encourage more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue careers as pilots and other professional careers.” Graham went on to say. “I love the sense of freedom I get from flying, it’s something that can’t be described unless you sit behind the controls of an aircraft yourself, I just feel at home when I’m airborne and it’s a feeling of complete happiness.”
Donate to Graham’s GoFundMe here! He explains in the video above that he lost the scholarship due to complications caused by COVID-19.
