Aerospace Education Council: March 2026 Update

Pitsenbarger Awards

We are back in the CCAF graduation season with folks graduating in the spring. Many graduation ceremonies have been set, and Airmen and Guardians who wish to apply for the Pitsenbarger award should be doing so. We have around four applications thus far, but many to go. And, we have gone full throttle on the Pitsenbarger Full Measure Award. The applications are now on the AFA webpage, notices have been sent out to all those who received a Pitsenbarger Award in the last three years, and we are ready to take applications. The deadline to apply is 20 April; if you are at a or near a base and support these graduations, be sure to encourage new graduates to apply for the Full Measure Award in the next two years, once they meet the criteria. As a reminder, this is as $3,000 grant that will be presented at opening ceremonies at the 2026 Air, Space and Cyber conference in National Harbor, Md. And we will pay their way there! 

Additionally, the 60^th Anniversary of William Pitsenbarger’s death in Vietnam will be honored on April 10-11 in Piqua, Ohio, where he is interred. This is being hosted by AFA’s Dayton Chapter and has very good events including a free showing of “The Last Full Measure” on April 10. On April 11, ceremonies will be held in Piqua. Several of the “Mud Soldiers” who Pitsenbarger saved will be in attendance. 

Teacher of the Year

Another reminder is that it’s time to identify exceptional teachers who you want to recognize. So far, we have received four packages for chapter teachers of the year. Each state has its own requirements when they are due to the state, but both chapter and state applications are due to national by 30 April. National ToY applications are due on 30 June.

Educator Grants

We had 64 applicants for 40 grants this year, and those 40 have been selected. Your chapters should receive word on both the selectees and non-selectees. Chapters may want to consider contacting the selectees to congratulate them and to see if you can come to their schools to present. Also, get with the non-selectees to look at their program and perhaps provide chapter support for that teacher if you’re able if it’s as worthwhile program. 

One thing we are looking for on the Educator Grants is feedback from teachers on how the funds they receive are used to track their impact for schools and AFA. I can relate two stories. One is that our AFA Texas Teacher of the Year for 2025 learned about AFA from applying for and receiving a grant. She knew nothing about AFA, and when she learned about programs such as CyberPatriot and StellarXplorers, she got her rural school energized and now has teams participating. Another recipient of a grant in Florida some years back was similarly energized and became a founder of our StellarXplorers program! If you have success stories, we’d like to hear them.

Teacher STEM Camps

This year we had four weekend long sessions set to take place in Rome N.Y., Pentagon City, Va., Denver, Colo., and Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. The event at Davis-Montham took place earlier this month and was a huge success! The other programs may be in jeopardy due to a freeze in funding by the Pentagon. We are determining whether the events can still take place but without external funding. More to follow as we may see if local chapters and states are willing to step up to support.

T-6 Vmax

I had the opportunity to attend the second high school T-6 Vmax competition at Randolph AFB earlier this month. This competition was developed by a team who wants to apply the Aviator Professional Athlete Model to military flying. The idea is to get youth competing as early as possible and then into college. That way, when it comes time to select for Undergraduate Pilot Training, they already have a baseline of skills using USAF criteria much like professional athletes who develop their skills early on. 

The competition uses T-6 Virtual Reality Simulators. The students receive instruction from qualified pilots and when they go to the competition, they are evaluated by USAF T-6 Instructor Pilots on their skills. Last year’s competition was all about instrument flying. This year it was about what the AF calls “contact,” which is visually flying the aircraft through various maneuvers and to precision. The competitors also take a written exam. The maximum score anyone could receive this year was 220 points. The winner of the “High Point” award went to a 15-year-old who scored 218 points! The evaluator said that this young lady flew as well as any second lieutenant he had flown with. Pretty awesome! 

AETC has 50 excess Virtual Reality simulators, 45 of which are going to be distributed to AFROTC units around the US. With this, they hope to have a collegiate level competition by 2028. So, where does AFA fit in? We have not adopted this program yet, but it is going to be huge soon for the USAF. They will be looking for help in identifying volunteers who can coach and instruct the students at various universities. We will share more information as it becomes available.