Last week more than 700 students from across the Mid-Atlantic region were exposed to a wide range of career opportunities in aviation, including agricultural aviation, at the 2018 Aviation Education & Career Expo at Leesburg Executive Airport in Leesburg, Va. Michael Rutledge, ag aviator and commanding officer of the Executive Flight Detachment at the United States Military Academy at West Point, gave the keynote speech Oct. 26 at the 13th Annual Aviation Education & Career Expo. In addition to his keynote speech, Rutledge also did an aerial demonstration in a Thrush 510P provided by Jeff Chorman of Allen Chorman & Son Inc. in Delaware.

ProJet Aviation General Manager Julie O’Brien created the event to introduce young people to the vast array of career opportunities within the aviation industry. Other presenters included ProJet CEO Shye Gilad, NTSB Air Safety Investigator Heidi Kemner, and a K-9 demonstration by Cpl. Matthew Werner and Russell, a bomb-sniffing dog from the Explosive Detection Canine Unit of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department. The U.S. Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team also performed.

Mike Rutledge speaks to students at the 13th annual aviation career day in Leesberg, VA

In between the speaker blocks and prior to his own keynote address, Rutledge made an array of impressive turns, maneuvers and simulated applications in Chorman’s ag plane. An air boss narrated during Rutledge’s performance using talking points that informed students and chaperones about the benefits of aerial application. Rutledge also arranged for a parachute jump demonstration by members of West Point’s helicopter and parachute team, which followed his ag aviation demo.

After changing out of his flight suit and into his dress blue military uniform, Rutledge took the stage a short time later to speak to deliver a motivational address about following your dreams and fulfilling your destiny. In addition to being an ag pilot, Rutledge has had a distinguished military career that began when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and then became a Navy SEAL. From there, he became an Army special ops aviator, before moving into his current post as the commanding officer of West Point’s aviation unit. In the summers, Rutledge has also spent the last five seasons working as an ag pilot. Rutledge grew up in a small farming community in Illinois, so agriculture and aviation have always been close to Rutledge’s heart. (Mike’s father owned a Stearman but died when Mike was 12; his mother sold the aircraft after her husband’s death.) Rutledge joined the Navy he got turned on to the Navy SEAL program and later flight school and set goals to become a SEAL and then a military pilot. As different doors opened, he took advantage of new opportunities.

Mike Rutledge performs a manuver in Jeff Chorman's Thrush 510 for students at Leesberg Executive Airport

“You have to dream big,” Rutledge advised the students. “Do not dream small. Do not shortchange yourself. You need to pick something so outrageous and so unattainable and make that your goal. If you pick something down here, you’ll get it, but you’re not realizing your potential.”

Over the course of the day, NAAA spoke with students about the many benefits of ag aviation in protecting food, fiber and biofuel, fighting forest fires, and controlling mosquito populations. Students also learned what it’s like to be an ag pilot or ag aircraft mechanic.

NAAA has been a corporate sponsor of the Aviation Education & Career Expo for the past five years. The event draws students from across the Mid-Atlantic region and gets bigger each year. This year ProJet awarded more than $350,000 worth of aviation scholarships to students who submitted essays in various scholarship categories.

Thank you to Michael and Jeff for helping recruit the next generation of ag pilots!