F/O Andrew Voss (JetBlue)

“I knew that I wanted to become a pilot when I was 10 years old,” said Voss. “My friend's father owned part of a Cessna 206 and took us for a flight around the Eastern Sierras in California. I thought it was the most magical experience of my life and from that point on I knew flying was what I wanted to do.”

The wonder and freeness of flight played a part in his early interest as well. “The first thing that interested me about becoming a pilot was the ability to take a machine airborne and control it,” he explained. “The ability to go wherever you want to without being tied to a road or path inspires a feeling you cannot get on the ground.”

Voss was just 11 years old on 9/11, and reports that the tragedy didn’t affect his dreams at all. “I knew that becoming an airline pilot after 9/11 was going to be difficult, but I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.”

He began his path to the cockpit in high school at the age of 17. “I was working at the local airport in town, which also ran a small flight school,” he remembered. “I traded much of my time working there for flight lessons to slowly earn my private pilot’s license in the summer of 2008. It was an incredible experience at such a young age, having very little idea about aviation or the industry since no one in my family is a part of it.” From there he went to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz., and in 2011 applied for and received his scholarship from the Capt. Jason Dahl Fund.

“The Dahl scholarship helped me achieve my dream of becoming a pilot and getting into the aviation industry,” he said. “Without this scholarship and others like it, many deserving students and perspective airline pilots would not be able to get as far as they do.”

Today, Voss is a first officer at JetBlue after a year and a half as a flight instructor and a stint at Cape Air. “I'm very excited to be flying for a major airline with such an amazing reputation with the possibility of working for them as a pilot for up to 40 years,” he exclaimed. And he’s just as excited to be continuing the legacy of Capt. Dahl. “Capt. Dahl had an amazing career of flying and teaching that was cut too short,” he said. “I feel like I'm following his footsteps in the industry and hope to continue to help others become airline pilots as well.”