Page 7 - Appendix A

2005 Black Male SUPT student
(Moody/Columbus)

How would you characterize your childhood community?
Spent plenty of time in both environments. Moved around a lot as a child.

How would you characterize your high school?
It was about an even split, but minorities had a slight numbers advantage.

How many blacks were in your pilot training class including yourself?
1

Total number of student pilots who initially entered pilot training with you?
12
Do you feel that having the other minority pilot helped you during training? Please explain.
Neither helped nor hurt. Female student. Wasn't really a factor. Most of us knew each other
from the Academy so we didn't treat her any different and the IPs didn't appear to either. Her
dad was a general as well, but it didn't appear to have an impact one way or another from my
perspective as a student.

Did you ever fly with a black instructor in your flight, guest help, or check pilot?

Flight; Guest Pilot.

Was there black leadership at your wing?
There was no black leadership at my base.

How was your pilot training experience impacted by the presence of black instructors or black
leadership? Please explain.
Positive impact. 3-4 black instructors at the base. Some of the black IPs were my
upperclassmen from USAFA, and a couple were not. Both schooled me on keeping my act tight
regardless of how the white students acted.

In your opinion was being black a benefit or detriment during training? Please explain.
Detriment. Basic social interactions: because I'm the only black student, I get away with
nothing, and I get noticed for everything purely because I stick out. My ability to blend in an all-
white class doesn't exist. If I'm late for a brief, screw up a stand-up scenario, fly poorly, am out
sick, etc., it will inherently stand out in their minds because of how the brain works. At the
same time, if I do really well, it didn't go unnoticed either. I don't know if it carried the same
weight though and I definitely was never going to get the halo effect. The white students kind