A Lake County teen won an aviation scholarship worth $13,000 for flight training and becoming a future airline pilot.
The Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 534 in Leesburg announced the 2025 Ray Aviation Scholarship winner to be Abdiel Hernandez of Tavares. He is 16 years old and just finishing up his sophomore year at Tavares High School. He has always had an interest in aviation, and one day he hopes to become a commercial airline pilot.
Hernandez has been a member of the EAA Chapter 534 youth program for some time and has taken several flights with their Young Eagles program. He is looking forward to beginning his flight training at Sun Air Aviation at the Leesburg International Airport right here in Florida.
Hernandez is only one of three Ray Aviation Scholars taking part in an EAA National Beta Simulator flight test in the country. If this beta test is successful, it will become an integral part of the scholarship program…