Teen flies solo flight

Zaire Horton, a teen glider pilot, flew into the Lewis Jackson-Greene County Airport to pay homage to Wilberforce University on Sunday.

Horton’s trip is dedicated to 7 historically Black colleges/universities (HBCUs) whose administrators lobbied the United States to include African Americans in a civilian pilot training program in the 1940s. Wilberforce

University was part of that group that asked for equity. Those HBCU’s played an integral part in the history of aviation.

Zaire’s efforts this week were thwarted by bad weather last week that made it unsafe for the 16-year-old to fly his Pipistrel motor glider. On Wednesday, an all clear was set for him to coast into the Lewis Jackson Airport in Greene County. He then visited the Wilberforce campus to meet with President Elfred Anthony Pinkard and took a tour of the campus.

Horton was introduced to flying his freshman year at the College Preparation and Placement Program at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy in Chicago, Illinois. He began flying Cessna planes and Taildaggers when he was 14. At age 16, he earned his glider pilot license and flew his first solo flight.

Wilberforce University was founded in 1856. It is a member of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the Ohio Link Library Consortium and the NAIA.