Sens. Cotton, Jones introduce bill to create scholarship program for pilots

U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Doug Jones (D-AL) introduced a bill to create pilot scholarship programs for qualified members of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC).

The Ceiling and Visibility Unlimited (CAVU) Act is named after the renowned pilots’ acronym to describe ideal conditions and promising opportunities. The bill is in response to a shortage of pilots in military service across all branches. The scholarships would encourage early exploration of careers in aviation within the JROTC ranks.

“The pilot shortage is a serious crisis impacting our military, and I commend the Air Force for creating additional opportunities for JROTC students to pursue their pilot certificates. As the same problem persists across the other branches, our bill would allow each Service’s secretary to create similar scholarship programs that would encourage aspiring students to pursue flight school or attend one of our Service academies,” Cotton said.

A similar program — JROTC Flight Academy’s Chief of Staff Private Pilot Scholarship Program – was created by the United States Air Force in 2018. It awarded scholarships to 120 students to attend flight school in the summer of 2018 at one of six universities. The students participated in a six to eight-week summer program and got their private pilot’s licenses, along with up to 12 hours of college credit, with no required commitment to the Air Force

“Young people are being asked to choose career paths earlier and earlier, and for many – especially young women and minorities – the field of aviation seems out of reach,” Jones said. “This bill works to address that issue and to open up the world of aviation to all of the rising stars in our JROTC programs.”