High Flyers: Jordan Griffith-Simmon breaks barriers for aviators of all ages

Jordan Griffith-Simmon poses next to an Ohio State airplane. Photo provided by Griffith-Simmon.

By: Tatyana Woodall

It’s not often someone finds their true calling — but for Jordan Griffith-Simmon, a second-year in air transportation, some things just felt inevitable. 

“My earliest memories are being on airplanes, flying back and forth between New York and North Carolina,” Griffith-Simmon said. 

By his senior year of high school and after an email from a counselor connected him with a local nonprofit, Griffith-Simmon became the first student in his youth flying program to earn a private pilot license. 

His biggest draw to a career in the clouds? Getting to travel all over the world.

“When I go up into the air, I feel freedom to be able to move as I please, as fast as I want to and go wherever I want to,” Griffith-Simmon said. “While most students are going to class, whether that be on Zoom, or in person, I’m getting in my car and going to the airport. I’m going to go fly as my first class of the day.” 

Students who undergo flight training do so at the Ohio State University Airport, where they have access to everything from flight simulators to fleets of Cessna 172s — one of the most popular training planes ever made. 

But even with an array of resources and a commitment to diversity, Griffith-Simmon said he and his roommate are the sole two Black pilots in the 2023 class, and part of a total 3% nationwide. 

“There’s only been one Black instructor in my two years that I’ve been here, so like I think that our white counterparts, they may know that yes, there's a small number of Black pilots and they may not be against that,” he said. “[But] that 3% really lets them see and visualize, puts more emphasis on it.” 

Griffith-Simmon is also treasurer for the OSU chapter of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, which connects students to industry professionals and mentoring, and said the group provides him with a sense of belonging. 

“OBAP is a great organization. We kind of bridge the gap between pilots and aerospace engineers,” he said. “We are together and we have each other to lean on.”

And when it comes to rustling up support in a field where minority leaders are few and far between, Griffith-Simmon said he looks to history’s hard-won wins — and its losses.  

“The person who got me started, really seriously started in aviation, would be Capt. Warren Wheeler,” Griffith-Simmon said. “Everything of where I am and where I’ve grown to in aviation is all a byproduct of him, so I would say he’s definitely my main support. He’s been there basically with me since day one.”

Paving the way for aspiring pilots of color, Griffith-Simmon said Wheeler founded Wheeler Airlines, the first Black U.S airline in 1969, which later became a piece of American Airlines. 

After reading “Rest In Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin,” Griffith-Simmon also said he learned that Martin, a Black 17-year-old, whose death in 2012 sparked a national outcry, wanted to be a pilot as well. 

“Reading the book by his parents, [he and I] had a fairly similar upbringing in terms of our families and family structure,” he said. “Not to say if he survived, he would have been me, because that’s unfair to him, but there definitely are a lot of similar aspects, and that I kind of see myself in him. We both could have been in a similar position had he survived.”

They were also both athletes and gave up football dreams to pursue careers in aviation, Griffith-Simmon said. As for what he plans to do in the future, the possibilities are limitless. 

“Pre-pandemic, I had my heart set on being an airline pilot, but now, post-pandemic, there’s a little more uncertainty in what the future holds,” Griffith-Simmon said. “I could go fly private jets, Caribbean island-hopping. There’s a host of different opportunities.”