American Airlines’ efforts to build a pipeline of aviator recruits are starting to pay off as student pilots are making their way through graduation, onto regional carriers and now to the Fort Worth-based carrier’s mainline.
After starting its Cadet Academy in 2018 to guide students through flight training and into careers as commercial pilots, American Airlines hired its first two pilots through the program this month. That’s a five-year journey as American tries to tackle a two-pronged problem — a looming pilot shortage in one of the least diverse fields in the country.
Damion Washington, a 45-year-old from Illinois who spent time as a youth pastor before flight school, signed on to fly with American this month as a co-pilot based at DFW International Airport. American made the offer to Washington and another pilot, Keith Taylor, at the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals conference earlier this month.
