Jonathan Ryan ’23

When he was 10 years old, Jonathan Ryan took his first flight on an airplane bound for Puerto Rico for a family vacation and knew he belonged up in the sky. He started taking flight lessons as a teenager and by the time he graduated from Norwich High School, he already had his Private Pilot Certificate. While taking ground classes on campus and flight laboratories provided by Westfield Flight Academy at the Schenectady County Airport, he earned his Instrument Rating and his Commercial Pilot Certificate. He graduated from SUNY Schenectady with his A.S. degree in Aviation Science. 

Jonathan, who has been named to the Dean’s List, was one of only 11 students from colleges and universities across the country to earn a Southwest Airlines Scholarship last year. He received $5,000 per semester while he was a student this year at SUNY Schenectady and the scholarship will continue as he transfers this fall for his B.S. in Professional Pilot online through Utah Valley University. He’s already used three of the eight complimentary Southwest tickets he received too, for trips to Puerto Rico and Fort Myers, Fla. (and to fly a friend from Portland, Maine, to Albany). Jonathan was also awarded the Robert F. Case and Family Scholarship and William Gundry Broughton Fellowship Program for Excellence through the SUNY Schenectady Foundation.

He will be completing his Multi-Engine Rating over the summer, working on his Certified Flight Instructor License, and continuing his job as a Ramp Agent for Piedmont Airlines at the Albany International Airport. Jonathan will also be building up his flight hours and is looking forward to teaching other aspiring pilots as a flight instructor. He plans to relocate to Indiana in August. Jonathan’s career goal is to become a charter pilot and then a pilot for a major airline.

“The first time I ever flew on an airline, literally from the moment I stepped into the airport, I got an excited feeling. I felt like I belonged and from there, I had my mind made up. Flight training is an expensive endeavor and SUNY Schenectady is really affordable. It’s a smaller program and it feels personal here. Everyone knows everyone and the faculty are very good. Professor Barbara Jones is a very skilled teacher and the other instructors are really good too. I have always found the professors to be very kind and helpful. I also appreciate that I can take in-person or online classes.”