NEW YORK – On the fifth and final day of HOPE Week, the Yankees honored aviator Brian Worthington, the founder of the nonprofit NY Metro Black Pilots of America (NYMBPA), which introduces underserved and underprivileged communities to the aviation industry.
Worthington grew up in a Queens housing project near LaGuardia Airport and had a challenging journey in becoming a pilot. He had poor grades in high school and could have gone in the wrong direction in life, but he persevered and became an aircraft service technician at JFK Airport, later enrolling at Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology to better his craft. Worthington graduated from the school in 2022.
Before graduating, Worthington joined the U.S. Army and the New York Army National Guard and shuffled through a number of aviation support roles, taxiing around the runway of his childhood ambitions. That all changed on April 30, 2003, when he walked into a flight school at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y. That day, Worthington took his first “discovery flight,” piloting a plane with the help of an instructor.
Today, Worthington seeks to break down the barriers he faced, as he and other members of the NYMBPA use their own small planes to instruct students of color, with most of the costs coming out of pocket. This year alone, the organization has served more than 300 young people.
For his service in the community, Worthington received a $10,000 check from the Yankees. It’s a no-brainer where the money is going.
“This is a dream come true. Never thought this was a thing that was possible,” Worthington said. “Just to be honored by the Yankees – this is the Yankees. You can’t get any better than that. … For them to reach out to me and just find out about the organization, I cannot explain how I feel right now. It’s a great feeling.
“[The money] will help the organization tremendously. We can use this money to give back to the organization, give back to the kids that don’t have the opportunities to get into aviation to fly. We can use this money for introflight, just getting people into aviation.”
In fact, Worthington was teaching a bunch of teenagers about the nuances of aviation at Vaughn College when members of the Yankees – Trent Grisham, Jasson Domínguez, JT Brubaker and Oswald Peraza – visited the school to give Worthington their support for his cause. Comedian Roy Wood Jr., a die-hard baseball fan, was also in attendance.
They took a tour of the college and entered the aircraft control tower, the flight compound – where all the planes and engines are located – and the flight simulator room, where Domínguez did a great job landing the plane.
“I like being in the flight tower and watching the planes go in and out. That’s kind of more of my speed,” Grisham said.
The smile on Domínguez’s face showed how much he loves aviation.
“It was awesome even though it was a simulator. It was great to have the instructor explain and teach me,” Domínguez said.
“The instructor was a plus for me. It‘s not just taking the plane and lifting it up. There are so many things happening at the same time. You realize it’s not an easy job.”
Said Brubaker, “The accessibility was awesome. What really stuck with me was what Brian said – he would go up in the control tower and have his quiet time and listen to the air traffic control because he knew it was a path for him [to be successful].”