WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — A summer camp is helping dozens of middle and high school students in the Winston-Salem area pilot an interest in aviation. 

What You Need to Know 

ACE Academy is in its 12th year at Smith Reynolds Airport 

Oliver Wyman predicts a global shortage of around 60,000 pilots by the end of the decade 

At ACE, the school hopes to inspire a next generation of flyers

Jim Shaw's Aviation Career Education Academy, also known as ACE Academy, is in its 12th year at Smith Reynolds Airport. According to camp leaders, the U.S. airline industry is facing a pilot shortage. Their hope is to help inspire young children to one day pursue a career in piloting and to help aid future shortages. 

Former camper, Owen Hobgood, returned back to the camp that helped further his interest in aviation. After high school, Hobgood attended Guilford Technical Community College to study aircraft mechanics, and then he landed his pilot's license.

“I knew I always wanted to be a pilot, but what this exposed me to is we went on a tour of a maintenance facility and you saw all the big airliners and stuff and all these massive tool boxes, and that sparked my interest and got me thinking I wanted to be a mechanic too," Hobgood said.

On Friday, he took campers up into the sky to show them they too can enter the aviation industry.

“This stuff isn’t really encouraged. Throughout middle school, high school, you’re always told the same thing, which is go to college, go to college. There’s an importance of going to college, but if you can go out to your local airport and get your pilot certificate and work towards that, then you’re going to have a guaranteed job, especially in a couple years as more and more people retire from the airlines," Hobgood said.

A report by consulting firm Oliver Wyman predicts a global shortage of around 60,000 pilots by the end of the decade.