Bringing Aviation to High School, with Kailee Calder

By John Zimmerman
Oct 20, 2026
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Pilot's Discretion Podcast, episode 141

What happens when you take a former high school chemistry teacher, turn her into a CFI, and send her back into the high school classroom to run a full-semester private pilot ground school? In this episode, high school educator, medical professional, and flight instructor Kailee Calder explains how she is reshaping youth aviation outreach through CTE partnerships in Utah. She also shares lessons she’s learned as a teacher that work for flight instructors and takes on misconceptions about today’s youth. In the Ready to Copy segment, Kailee shares her favorite flight simulator scenario for kids, why social media isn’t always the best marketing channel for flight schools, and the weather tips she learned from sailing.

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Quotes:

How aviation changed Kailee’s plans: "the minute I added takeoff power on that first solo and rotated, I thought, 'I don't think I'm going to go to med school.'"
The appeal of GA: "I fell in love with the access and the community of the general aviation side."
Kailee’s aviation program goal: "by the time they get to that airplane, they know what they're signing up for and they've done the work."
How to teach in 2026: "What a lot of students are looking for right now, whether they know it or not, is structure."
Why students can’t rush training: "I see a lot of students that for whatever reason have got it in their head that speed is king... it's really important that we come back to the objective: becoming a safe, competent pilot."
Using print books with teenagers: "In my classroom, everybody has to have a hard copy of the FAR/AIM. We crack that sucker open."
The role of simulators in a ground school: "I always emphasize: it’s a procedure trainer, it’s a procedure trainer, it’s a procedure trainer."
A lesson from the classroom that works in the cockpit: "Zip your mouth, sit on your hands if you can... If you don't sit back and let them show you, then you'll never know where their knowledge boundary is."
The value of SOPs across industries: "In the medical world, if you don't have each scientist running the process the same exact way for every single patient, your data is essentially meaningless. Applying that to flight training, I'm big on standardization."
Why flight instructors are so important: "Your voice will be heard in cockpits all around the world, and that's serious business."