Representatives from Corning Aviation talk to students from area high schools during Aviation Career Day on Thursday, March 5, 2026 at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center in Big Flats.
Representatives from Corning Aviation talk to students from area high schools during Aviation Career Day on Thursday, March 5, 2026 at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center in Big Flats.
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Elmira area students get peek at aviation careers, advice from astronaut

Tara Radford is a licensed pilot who flies her own private plane, so when her son Angel expressed interest in an aviation career, she was excited.

Angel, 15, a student in the Elmira Heights Central School District, got a chance to find out more about the career possibilities in the field when the Career Development Council held an Aviation Career Day on Thursday, March 5 at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Center in Big Flats.

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“I’d like to become a licensed pilot. This is just to get a feel for it, to see the presenters and what they have to offer,” Angel said.

“He has some real interest in it,” Tara Radford added. “All three of my kids love to fly. It’s exciting.”

A message from Elmira astronaut Eileen Collins

Angel was among about 135 students from 16 area school districts to take part in Aviation Career Day. A highlight of the event was the keynote address by retired astronaut and Elmira native Eileen Collins.

“My main message was to inspire them to continue on in their education and this group in particular, that they continue in math and science, and all kinds of sciences,” said Collins, who was the first female space shuttle pilot.

“I do that not by preaching to the students. I don’t want to tell them, ‘Do this, do that,'” she said. “I want to show them what other people have done in the space program so they can see, ‘Well, maybe I can do that someday’ and give them some ideas and get them excited about, maybe space travel is kind of exotic, but I think that gets people excited, especially young people, to work hard in school.”

Aviation is an influential Southern Tier industry

Presenters for the event included Corning Aviation, Air National Guard, Lockheed Martin, LifeNet of NY and the Elmira Corning Regional Airport, among others.

Given the strong aviation presence in the Elmira area, an aviation career day was a natural choice, said Career Development Council Executive Director Sally Deane-Moshier.

“We have been looking for other opportunities in the region to showcase a bunch of careers,” Deane-Moshier said. “A staff member said ‘How about an aviation day?’ We loved it.”

Students loved the opportunity as well. Among the participants was Riya Rehman, a senior at Elmira High School.

“I’m very involved in aviation. My uncle was a pilot,” said Riya, 17. “I just want to get a feel. I want to fly or maybe get involved in the engineering.”

Sebastian Garcia, a junior at Horseheads High School, already has a pretty clear vision of what he wants to do.

“I want to be a pilot,” said Sebastian, 16. “I started an aviation club at school. We had our first meeting today. I’m here because I want to make connections with people in the aviation world.”

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This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Elmira area students get peek at aviation careers, advice from astronaut

Reporting by Jeff Murray, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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