Young Aviators Lab

Flight Track

For high schoolers who want to become pilots and need to know where to start.

Flight Track is a free multi-week mentorship program built for high schoolers who are ready to start planning. No inspiration speeches or vague encouragement. Real guidance on how to plan an aviation career path from someone who's lived it.

Track 001 Enrolling Soon

The Program

Here's what you'll actually learn.

Flight Track runs over several weeks on Zoom. Each session covers a real part of the path: the options, the costs, the tradeoffs, and the stuff most people don't figure out until they're already in it.

The Paths

Part 61 vs. Part 141, military aviation, college with flying, skipping college, aviation trades. What each path costs in time, money, and opportunity.

The Ratings

Private, instrument, commercial, multi-engine, ATP. What order makes sense, how long each takes, and what doors each one opens.

The Money

How flight training gets paid for. Scholarships, loans, regional airline cadet programs, employer pipelines. What's real and what's just marketing.

A Day in the Life

Four guests. Four careers. Regional airline, legacy carrier, corporate aviation, flight instructor. What their schedules look like, what they earn, and what they'd do differently.

Your Plan

You leave with a real roadmap. First steps, a realistic timeline, and resources to keep moving after Track 001 wraps.

Is This For You?

If you're curious about flying as a career, this is a good place to start.

You don't need to have everything figured out. You just need to be interested and willing to think seriously about what this path looks like.

Flight Track is for high schoolers who want real information — not a highlight reel, not vague encouragement. If you're trying to understand what becoming a pilot actually involves, this was built for you.

How It Works

Multi-week Zoom cohort. High school students. Free. Track 001 coming soon.

Sessions run 60–90 minutes. Guests are working pilots and aviation professionals. Come with questions!

Track 001

Be the First to Know When
Track 001 Opens.

Track 001 is in development. If you're a high schooler serious about aviation — or a parent of one — drop your info below. You'll get first access when enrollment opens, before any public announcement.

No spam. Just updates on Flight Track when they matter.

Your Instructor

Gheorghe Ciobanu

I started in Civil Air Patrol at 12. Solo-ed and earned my private at 17, continued my ratings at Purdue, became a flight instructor and towed gliders to gain experience, and at 23 started flying the Praetor 500/600 at Flexjet.

I built Flight Track because the path to becoming a pilot is confusing and most of the guidance out there is either too vague to act on or tied to someone trying to sell you something.

This is what I wish had existed when I was in high school trying to figure it out.