Photo Courtesy of KOAT
Meet the 17-year-old who inadvertently made history as the youngest pilot in New Mexico.
Gabriel Carothers is the youngest African American in New Mexico to have completed his Private Pilot check ride, which is an examination required by Federal Aviation Administration for one to receive their aircraft pilot’s certification.
“I wasn’t thinking about making history,” Carothers told KOAT. “I was thinking about flying and doing what I like to do every day. Making history was just a side effect of it — something that happened along the way. I don’t even recognize it, but then it’s days like this that really make me feel it and reflect on it. The past 4 to 5 year of me training and doing ground school of me waking up in the morning knowing I get to look forward to something like my check ride.”
Carothers’ love for aviation started at five years old after a family friend introduced him to a Cessna 182 Skylane, a four-seater with a single-engined light.
“My father had a family friend who had an airplane that ued to fly, so he thought it’d be interesting to take me and my brother up for a flight when we were five and six years old — just to get a feel for it. ‘It might be interesting. Catch your attention,’ and for me, it did. So, that was my first experience around an airplane or even,” Carothers said. “I had what we call ‘bitten by the bug.’ So, it took off for me. I found that this was an interesting career path for me, and I can have fun and make money doing it, but it’s more fun.”
Carothers’ father, Alex, claimed his son’s admiration for flying turned into an obsession at 8 when he got the opportunity to touch an airplane’s controllers at an Experimental Aircraft Association Young Eagles event.
At 14, he learned computer programming to build a flight simulator. His research and practice paid off because he became a Gen. Lloyd “Fig” Newton Chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. member and now teaches young people and adults aviation basics at STEM events.
“The Tuskegee Airmen have always been in my life. My father was a part of it. We help with events with for them. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here where I am today,” he said. “They paved the path for me to be able to fly the same way I’m doing for other people.”
As for his future, Carothers plans on either obtaining all of his licenses at the LIFT (Leadership in Flight Training) Academy to fly for airlines, join Warbirds , or the Air Force Academy.