by Soror Alicia Faucette
While many teenagers’ extracurricular activities consist of going to the mall or playing sports, there is one extraordinary Delta GEM who has an amazing pastime. Seventeen-year-old Delta GEM Anya Kearns has accomplished what many adults, let alone teens, would never dream of doing. She has learned to fly…an airplane.
It all started when Anya’s father, private pilot George Dynott, encouraged her to take a flight lesson at Fulton County Airport. For Anya, who was fifteen at the time, flying in a Cessna 152 was “amazing”. From that day forward, Anya knew she was destined to become a pilot. Anya’s passion for flying led her to seek out summer programs in the field of aviation. One program that Anya discovered was the Organization of Black Airline Pilots Aviation Career Education (OBAP ACE) program, which is sponsored by Delta Airlines. During this past summer, Anya became one of sixty students accepted into the OBAP ACE program. During this intensive one-week program, Anya learned about all of the various fields of aviation, including air traffic control and engineering.
After completing the OBAP ACE program, Anya then set her sights on acceptance into the Atlanta Flightline program, which is also sponsored by the Organization of Black Airline Pilots and Delta Airlines. Only twenty students are selected to interview for the Atlanta Flightline program and only ten of the twenty students interviewed were chosen to participate in the program. Anya was one of the ten students accepted into the 2008 Flightline program. Participation in the program provided Anya with an invaluable experience. Not only did she receive fifteen hours of free flight and ground school training, but she also took her first solo flight. Anya remembers the date vividly—June 18, 2008. It was the day she took her first flight as pilot in command, flying solo without any passengers or even an instructor on board. In fact, seventeen-year-old Anya Kearns was the first female to take a solo flight in her Flightline class. Amazingly, Anya’s solo flight was not her crowning achievement during the course of the program. In addition to flying solo, Anya received the prestigious Charlie Tutt Outstanding Achievement in Aviation Award, which is awarded annually to only one participant in the Flightline program. Anya was presented this outstanding award by Andrew Fellers , Director of the Atlanta Flightline program, and Charlie Tutt, Vice-President of Flight Operations for Atlantic Southeast Airlines and for whom the award is named.
Filled with joy and pride with her outstanding accomplishments, Anya acknowledges that she could not have reached her goals without the continued support and encouragement of her mother Angela Richards and her grandmother Barbara Brushon-Hollis. Anya also attributes her success to her participation in both Delta Academy and Delta GEMS. “Delta Academy and Delta Gems taught me how to be more confident in myself, to go after my goals, how to manage my schedule and how to treat others. It all started with Delta Academy and Delta GEMS.”
Now that Anya has experienced the joy of flying, she says that she is more determined than ever to become a captain for Delta Airlines. In furtherance of her goal, Anya continues to attend ground school through the OBAP ACE program. She also plans to attend Middle Georgia College next fall and major in aviation. Although it is often said the sky is the limit, for Delta GEM Anya Kearns, the sky is just the beginning.
Anya Kerns
Another Delta GEMS Success Story