Hello Mile High Flight students, friends and supporters.

We’re off to a great start in 2023 and we hope that everyone is enjoying the new year. We had to exercise a high level of flexibility in our tour schedule. Our long awaited and very popular tour of the United States Air Force Academy was moved from January 21 to January 28, but we truly believe that it will be well worth the wait. We thank MHF “Crew Member” and USAFA grad Rob Robison and his entire team for putting this event together. The USAFA tour is by far our longest activity, and coordination is a challenge. We’re hoping for great weather to showcase the beautiful campus in Colorado Springs.

We also want to acknowledge the continued support of private individuals and institutional organizations of the Mile High Flight program. Thank you to the Black Resilience in Colorado (BRIC) Fund for its generous $10,000 grant. We are grateful for their belief in the mission of MHF and proud to have demonstrated our value to the Denver Metro Community. We’re also very excited to announce donations to MHF from several private individuals from within Hubert L. “Hooks” Jones and from outside our chapter as well. Though confidentiality prevents us from publishing their names here, we want to acknowledge their contributions to our program, express our deepest gratitude and commit to our continued service to our youth.

Please make note that some of our upcoming event dates have been revised. The events are as follows: 1/28 - USAFA, 2/4 - CU Aerospace, 3/4 - Metro State University Aerospace, 4/8 - United Airlines. Invites will be sent to students and parents as we finalize the details.

The MHF “Crew”

One of our “Crew” had a chance encounter with a young man at the United Airlines’ flight operations center in San Francisco. He was a new-hire, just beginning his “Initial Operating Experience” (IOE) in the Boeing 777. The young man looked familiar, but he couldn’t recall his name, but the new United B-777 pilot instantly recognized our MHF Crew member. As it turns out, the new hire was our very own 2009 MHF Phase 2 student Bryan Fisher. Bryan’s journey finally led him back to United Airlines. Bryan expressed his deep appreciation to the Mile High Flight Program for making his journey possible, but we reminded him that the true author of his success looks back at him each morning when he sees himself in the mirror. Now that we’ve reconnected with Bryan, we’ll be keeping a close eye on his progress. Bryan expressed an interest in becoming the newest member of our “Crew” and we’re happy to have him on board!

We have one more exciting update to share, from 2021 MHF Phase 2 student Marissa Coney. She writes:

“Hi MHF “Crew”, I apologize for not informing you sooner, but I'm now working with McAir for my instrument rating. I just want to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to be part of phase two and start my journey towards being a pilot. If there is any opportunity to volunteer with the program sometime soon or down the line, I would love to come back and help in any way I can. Thank you”

2010 MHF Phase 2 graduate Mark Reese updated us on his journey as a new hire B-777 First Officer, also with United Airlines. Mark writes:

“Passed my line check this morning on the red eye from LAX - IAD. Finished up in 6 legs and 4 crossings. Thank you so much for all of the support, encouragement, and tough words, when necessary, over the years. I would not be flying the 777 for United Airlines if not for your challenge of me in 2010 to be the best at all I do. Thank you so much MHF “Crew.”