Caiden Spears earns historic aviation achievement

On May 25 of last year, Monroe’s Caiden Spears, then 17, became the youngest African American male to obtain a private pilot license in the history of the state. For Spears, it was another in a series of steps that has him closer than ever to achieving his goal of piloting a Boeing 777 commercial airliner.

“Caiden’s dream of becoming a pilot began at the age of 7 when we lived in the Bronx directly across the approach path from LaGuardia Airport,” said Ingrid Spears, his mother. “On many days after getting home from school he would sit outside by the water and watch the airplanes come in on their final approach. He was amazed how clearly he could see the belly of the aircrafts with the landing gear down as the planes made their final turn to runway 31.”

Caiden spent a good deal of his childhood learning everything he could about planes, from reading to YouTube videos. One day, when he was 8, his mother was folding laundry when she heard what sounded like noises that would come from inside an airplane. Caiden had turned the living room into a flight simulation station using the TV, yoke and other controls his mom had purchased for him.

“Sit down, Mommy. I’m getting ready to take off,” he told his mom, a registered nurse and event medical coordinator.

It wasn’t just a simulation at an early age. Often, it was experience with the real thing.

“My passion started when I was young and being on planes every vacation and flying to see family in Georgia,” said Caiden, the youngest of three boys and a 2024 graduate of Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. “Feeling the thrill of the take off and being able to speak to the pilot in the cockpit and talk to them about how they got there and what I could do to get there. I was fascinated as a child sitting on a plane wondering how it took off.”

At age 13, Caiden completed his introductory flight at Republic Airport on Long Island and ground school with Aviation 4 US in Brooklyn. Upon graduation from ground school, he received the honors award for flying, a certificate of merit from the NYS Assembly and a certificate of recognition from the NYS Senate. He then went on to complete the remainder of his training with Long Island Aviators in Farmingdale, where he obtained his private pilot license. His family moved to the Monroe area during COVID.

‘Bring my plane back in one piece’

At age 16 and enough flight hours with an instructor under his belt, it was only a matter of time before he would be sent up alone. When that day came, Ingrid was not aware he would solo.

“It was a beautiful day on Long Island in August 2022 and I assumed it was going to be like any other day where he goes up with his instructor and does touch and goes and that sort of thing,” Ingrid said. “During his lesson, I went to a shopping center nearby when I got a call from his instructor telling me to come back to the airport right away. I panicked and dropped whatever I was buying and raced over to the airport gate. The instructor was there with his car. I got in and I asked him where my son was and if anything was wrong. I was dying on the inside because I could have sworn something happened. The instructor pulled up to the side of the runway and says look over there.”

What Ingrid saw was her son sitting in the instructor’s Piper Warrior 161 alone on the runway awaiting instructions from air traffic control. It was time for his solo.

“I was extremely nervous for my son,” said Ingrid. “I stood there sweating bullets and watched him take off. His instructor could hear Caiden talking to air traffic control from his car, so we got in his car, and I am hearing him communicate with air traffic control. His voice is pure confidence and as he takes off, I get out of the car, and I was really panicked at that point.”

It came as a surprise to Caiden as well.

“After we did a series of touch and goes and a few laps around the pattern we came to a full stop, which is when we would normally take the plane back and call it a day,” Caiden said. “This time, however, my instructor took off his seatbelt, hopped out of the plane and said to me, ‘Bring my plane back in one piece.’ So, there I was, by myself, talking to air traffic control awaiting instruction. On the takeoff, it was thrilling to know that I can do this by myself.”

In August of 2023, Caiden, a 2024 honors graduate of Cardinal Hayes High school in the Bronx, served as the emcee for the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals Youth Day program in New Orleans, where he spoke to over 400 students and pilots.

In July, he fulfilled a dream when he flew his pastor, Rev. Dr. Stephen W. Pogue, on a Piper Archer N727AC over the Long Island Sound to Brookhaven Calabro Airport on eastern Long Island.

Today, the Monroe resident is in Olive Branch, Miss., at Luke Weathers Flight Academy. If all goes to plan, he will be an airline pilot by age 23 and, one day, captain a Boeing 777.

“Flying airplanes almost every week is something I always wanted to do and the Boeing 777 is a plane I’ve always been enthused by,” Caiden said. “I have been in the cockpit of one, taken pictures by the engines and its such a beautiful plane. The many mentors I have can attest to how beautiful and amazing a plane it is to fly because of the different variants it has. In fact, I’m looking at a Boeing 777 on my desk right now.”