The Zak Quappé Flight Scholarship (ZQFS) committee is proud to announce the recipient of the 2014 flight scholarship. 17-year-old Samuel Hale Whitney of South Sound was born in George Town, Grand Cayman. Sam has had a fascination for flying from an early age. In fact, his dream is to one day become a commercial pilot for Cayman Airways. This scholarship will give Sam the opportunity to begin his private pilot training starting in February 2014. It also provides Sam the financial assistance he would otherwise have not been able to afford to achieve his dream.  In Sam’s own written words on his entry application, “This scholarship gives young adults an opportunity they would not have otherwise … I plan to give back to keep the ZQFS growing so that more young adults receive the chance to follow dreams that might not be possible without foundations such as this.”

This past summer Sam attended the two-week long Embry Riddle University Flight Introduction camp in Daytona Beach Florida. Here is where he logged his first flight hours in a Cessna 172.  Ironically, this is precisely where the late Zak Quappé, whom the scholarship is in memory of, logged his first flight hours some 9 years ago.

Zak Quappé, whose young life was taken in a tragic accident this past May was only 21 years old.  Zak, who logged nearly 400 hours of flight time, had earned his commercial pilot’s license and was a Certified Flight Instructor for the Cayman Flying Club. Based locally in Grand Cayman, Zak had already taught over 100 hours of flight instruction to his students. He was well respected amongst his peers and students and will be forever remembered as a truly gifted aviator.

In honour of Zak’s memory, the ZQFS committee hopes to contribute to the dreams of other young Caymanian adults in their pursuit of flight training. In order to accomplish this goal, the scholarship relies heavily on financial support from the Cayman Islands community. Contributors, such as Marcus Cumber of Island Air, Jeff and Kelly McGlashan of Trees4Life Cayman, Surf Side Restaurant, and other local businesses who have given their time and resources have played an important role to help get the scholarship off the ground.   We would also like to thank all of those kind individuals and those who supported through attending Cocktails and Cabaret for their generous donations.  This would not be possible without them.

If you wish to support this foundation, the ZQFS can be contacted either through Sheree Ebanks at [email protected], or via the Cayman Flying Club at [email protected].

Photo image:

L-R:  Barrie Quappé, Karie Bergstrom, Sam Whitney, Teri Quappé, Chuck Quappé, Jeff McGlashan, Sheree Ebanks, Marcus Cumber