"Amazing flight"

As part of the outreach of this event, AOPA’s You Can Fly program invited a local flight school student and his father to fly with one of the participating pilots. Agastya Haswar is a student at Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland. He and his father, Amit Haswar, flew with pilot Jim Hanson and second in command Doug Rozendaal in a Beechcraft King Air 200 during the flyover.

“The DC Flyover was amazing, one of the best things I’ve ever been able to do,” said the 16-year-old. “I’m grateful to my aviation teachers for selecting me for the seat the aviation program allotted, and I enjoyed it immensely. It’s incredible to be one of so few to see that particular view of Washington.”

Haswar has been interested in aviation since he was a young boy, but the spark was lit when his high school instituted the AOPA Foundation STEM curriculum and offered scholarships for flight training.

“I got the information to set concrete goals and better plan my career in aviation,” he said of the program. “My biggest challenge has been getting the funds to start my flight training. Most of the work I have put into aviation up until now has been making myself a competitive candidate for these scholarships, and then applying to them.”

Haswar has earned a TRUST Recreational Drone Certificate and a third class medical certificate and completed ground school with a score of 95 percent on the FAA knowledge test.

“My goals are to get my private pilot license when I turn 17 this August, work on my instrument rating throughout senior year, and go to the U.S. Air Force Academy to become a fighter pilot in the Air Force. My favorite aircraft is the F–22 Raptor, followed closely by the F–15E Strike Eagle,” he said.

[email protected]

youcanfly.aopa.org/high-school