Flying Aces

Sixteen-year-old pilots Kelly Anyadiki, left, and Jonathan Strickland, who set world records March 16, 2008, share their record-setting day with Robin Petgrave, founder of Tomorrow's Aeronautical Museum, a program, designed to make flight training available to inner-city and minority youths, at Compton Woodley Airport, where they learned to fly.


Sixteen-year-old Jonathan Strickland became the youngest Black pilot to solo six airplanes and one helicopter in the same day, at Compton Woodley Airport. Jonathan, a Los Angeles resident, has been flying since he was 12. During a trip from Compton to Canada at age 14, he became the youngest Black pilot to solo an airplane and a helicopter on the same day, the youngest Black pilot to fly a helicopter internationally and the youngest Black pilot to fly a helicopter on an international round-trip.

Kelly Anyadiki, a 16-year-old Inglewood, California resident, also broke a world record and is now the youngest Black female to solo four airplanes on the same day. "I'd rather have a plane than a car," said Kelly, who is still waiting to get her driver's license.

Robin Petgrave, a long-time Hollywood stunt pilot, founded Tomorrow's Museum in 1997 as a way to keep inner-city kids off the streets and teach them life skills and discipline through aviation. As part of the program, children earn "flying money" by cleaning planes or painting over graffiti. The airport provides aviation-themed after-school programs for more than 800 children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Petgrave said the Tuskegee Airmen are major contributors to the program.