Tuskegee NEXT program launches new generation of Black aviation professionals

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Building on the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, the group Tuskegee NEXT is launching high-achieving students on a path to professional aviation.

CBS 2's Sara Machi reports that it's an industry where Black and Brown people are under-represented.

The program allows dreams to take flight at a hangar at DuPage Airport in West Chicago.

"It was good. It was fun," one student said. "I can see myself going into it for the rest of my life."

The students from the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals attended a summer aviation camp and learned the steps to fly and work in the industry.

"This first red light here right here. This is a beacon light," said Tuskegee NEXT cadet Sean Littleton.

They're learning from people like Littleton, who started in one of these programs and is now taking his love for the air one step further.

He's spending his summer in an intense program and training five days a week until August 4th, when he will graduate with a pilot's license.

"Two months of giving up your summer for a pilot's license. It was the easiest decision I ever made."

Ethan Meisenburg graduated from the program in 2019. He's now working as a certified flight instructor and hopes to increase minority candidates in an industry rebounding after pandemic travel restrictions.

"You have a lot of careers in the field of aviation, and you need the exposure to them," Littleton said. 

The program's already working for some students who said this day has only made them more determined to follow their dreams.

"Defeat all odds, I guess. Being a female and then going into a male-dominated area. Especially as a woman of color, it's harder to get into, so just prove people wrong," said Delilah Billinghurst, who is attending the aviation camp.

"If you have a dream, just do it. Just go for it," said student Makenzie Ford.