My interest in aviation began long before I ever touched the controls of an aircraft. Growing up with aviation in my family, I learned early that aviation is more than a career; it is a profession built on discipline, responsibility and service. I was inspired not only by flying itself, but by seeing how aviation professionals work together to protect things like safety and working conditions while strengthening the future of the industry. That environment showed me that I wanted to be part of aviation both in the cockpit and through advocacy. I am a private pilot currently working on my instrument rating after earning my certificate on June 12th, 2025. I am concurrently attending San José State University as a sophomore pursuing my Bachelor of Science in Aviation with a concentration in Flight Operations, and I am on track to graduate a year early. After graduation, I plan to continue my education by pursuing a Master’s degree in Aviation Safety so I can combine flight experience with advanced safety knowledge and help strengthen the systems that protect us as pilots and our crews. My long-term goal is to become an airline pilot who also contributes to policy and safety programs within the profession. My leadership within aviation has been evident through the mentorship programs and organizations I have established. At my flight school, WINGS Flight School in Vacaville, California, I founded a peer study group we named “Breakfast Club,” originally with my CFI and two other students. The club has grown to over 50 active members and continues even while I am away at college. It became a place where students could ask questions, build confidence, prepare for checkrides and learn from one another in a supportive environment. Seeing newer students succeed because of something I created motivated me to continue mentoring others. At my university, I founded a club called ALPA ACE SJSU and currently serve as President. It stands for the Airline Pilots Association, Aviation Collegiate Education Club. I created the organization after recognizing that many students pursuing airline careers had little understanding of pilot unions, labor rights, aviation safety policy, or how professionals can advocate for change. My goal was to bridge that gap early. Through meetings, guest speakers, mentorship opportunities, and networking events, I have worked to build a stronger aviation community on campus while preparing students to become engaged professionals after graduation. I frequently bring in 3-5 pilots monthly to speak and connect with my members. Continuing my initiative, this summer, I will be interning with ALPA under their Engineering and Air Safety department. I also serve on the board of the Women in Aviation Club as their Secretary, where I help support mentorship and representation for women entering the field. My ambition extends beyond the cockpit. I created a student campaign encouraging aviation students to contact their elected representatives in support of amending the ALERT Act. I designed an easy step-by-step template so students could quickly advocate for stronger safety measures, including expanded ADS-B In requirements for all commercial aircraft. Seeing students become engaged showed me how important civic involvement is to the future of aviation and how student voices can help influence meaningful legislation. I have also started a personal research project focused on writing future legislation to improve mental health within aviation. My goal is to help create an industry where pilots are supported, safety is strengthened and asking for help is seen as responsible. I do not only want to fly airplanes; I want to leave aviation better than I found it while opening doors for the women behind me.

My name is Megan Lancaster, a dedicated freshman at San Jose State University, pursuing a major in Aviation with a focus on professional flight. From an early age, my passion for leadership was evident, leading to achievements in both academic and extracurricular realms. As a high school top scholar ranking top 10% in my class and a history being a member of several volunteering clubs, my commitment to excellence continues in college. Striving to be actively involved in the university’s Women in Aviation Club, I am eager to gain hands-on experience and contribute to the field. With a vision to become a professional commercial airline pilot, I’ve combined academic rigor with a relentless drive to excel in the aviation industry, especially as a new pilot I'm always open to networking opportunities. Ironically, at a young age I told myself it wasn’t in the cards for me to be a pilot. My father was a pilot in the Air Force, more specifically a C-130 instructor and evaluator. My whole life I grew up around aviation but I knew I never wanted to be in the military, nor did I want to be a pilot because that’s what my dad did and I wanted to “be my own person”. He never pressured me into flying and to this day I am so grateful for it; it allowed me to find my love for aviation on my own and be welcomed into a community with open arms and support. While I was in high school I entertained the idea of a Discovery Flight and I am forever thankful I did. Taking my first flight, seeing the community that awaited me and pairing that with my love to travel and experience new cultures, I knew I was destined for this career path. When I first started my flight training my CFI told me safety was his biggest priority and that if I take anything away from my training it would be that no matter what type of emergency situation I may be presented with, I can confidently and calmly handle the situation at hand. The same way a child's beliefs/views are impacted by their parents due to their upbringing, I share that same ideology with how my instructor molded my brain about safety; it’s the only way I know. I have to admit, I do not know everything there is to know about safety seeing as I am only a student pilot. However, it is something I love learning about and attending San Jose State University is helping make this possible. For example, next semester (Spring 2025) I will be taking AVIA 128 (Aviation Safety and Security) to help further my knowledge to make me an overall safer and better pilot. My time as a student pilot has been relatively short, so I'm thankful to be able to count the amount of significant challenges I've had on my fingers knowing there's likely more to come in the future. Recently due to no fault of my own, my training had been put on hold for 7 weeks. There was a lot of stuff going on in my personal life involving large changes impacting my emotional and physical well-being making me unfit to fly. I was in close contact with my CFI who supported me and my PIC decisions not to fly knowing I would’ve been violating IMSAFE. This set me back in my training, I am a part 141 student and I was one checkride prep flight away from my final progress check. I'm back flying now, still feeling the repercussions as I go through remedial flight training to get me back to where I was but luckily my regression wasn’t terrible. Skills wise I am still overcoming this roadblock but the whole experience taught me a lot. It taught me that I can only control what I can control. I couldn’t control my ability to fly, but I could control my ability to study. Prepping for my checkride doesn’t just involve the flying portion. While I wasn’t flying I was able to study by teaching my best friend (who is also a student pilot but has significantly less hours than I do) about different acronyms, FAR/AIM regulations, etc. all out of the ACS to make sure I was staying consistent with my knowledge while helping her progress along through her training. Growing up, I didn’t realize there was a term for this skill, I thought it was just how I was as a person; unbeknownst to me, I had been developing a strong ability in high-functioning short-term relationships, which is a skill i’ve come to find very valuable in my life and a key component in crew resource management. From randomly assigned group projects, working shifts in fast food, accomplishing tasks in leadership clubs, sports, the list goes on. I’ve always been adaptable, but it’s deeper than that. I have the ability to very quickly shift and arrange priorities which has become very evident in my flight training. In the air, in many different scenarios you don’t have the time to sit and think about a plan, you just need to execute. That's what I mean by adaptable. Because I am towards the end of my Private Pilot training I tutor other student pilots at my flight school. I formed a club we call “Breakfast Club” (no affiliation to the movie, just a silly name) where more experienced Private Pilot students and even licensed Private Pilots help tutor and study with less experienced private pilots earlier on in their training once a week on wednesdays. We also do this with two CFI’s who work at the school to supervise and make sure we aren't teaching the wrong information, one of them being my CFI who I proposed the idea to and helped formulate the club with. So far it's grown and become very successful, we started with one CFI and two other people besides me. Now we have two CFI’s and over 20 people and it's still growing even though I can no longer attend while being away at college. Doing this I have met so many amazing young pilots. I work at this same flight school as a receptionist and even when I'm working they've become comfortable enough to come up to the desk with their random aviation questions and I am always more than willing to give them or help find the answer. As a woman going into a predominantly male field I understand what it feels like to be underrepresented. Out of 120 incoming professional flight concentration aviation majors in my class at San Jose, only about 10 of us are women. I think it’s extremely important we encourage young girls to continue going into this field, 8% of pilots is not enough when 50% of the population are women. The Woman In Aviation club at San Jose State that I'm in hosted “Girls in aviation” day back in September at Reid-Hillview Airport. More events like this need to be hosted. National Girls in Aviation day is only 10 years old, there is so much room to grow and I am doing my part actively making that change. I am confident that I am a strong candidate for this scholarship. I am not only a student pilot paying for flight training, ground and all of the expensive materials I need to fly on top of all other personal expenses, I am a college student trying to earn my Bachelors Degree in Aviation at the exact same time. I have a very full schedule with both flight training and attending all of my classes making it difficult for me to work. Anything helps, whether it's $15,000 or $50 none of it goes unwasted. I believe my academic record and achievements speaks towards my dedication to pursue this field. I know going into my Instrument rating starting in the next few months the cost of my lessons is going to increase, nothing is cheap in aviation and I am grateful for every cent I am granted. There are only so many words I can use to portray myself to you to hopefully convince you that I am as deserving of this scholarship as I believe I am. I am confident that I am a strong candidate for this scholarship, I can only hope you see that too.