The Tailwinds Academy began as Tailwinds Flight School, a privately owned flight school founded in 2018 by Howard Cooper (M.Ed. CFI, AGI) and located at Northeast Philadelphia Airport. Howard is a career educator and certificated flight instructor with over 1500 hours of flying time.

In 2019 Mr. Cooper was approached by Frankford High School in Northeast Philadelphia to discuss the possibility of providing flight training for student in Frankford’s Aviation Academy. The Philadelphia School District subsequently provided funding for 3 students in the inaugural class which began in the Fall of 2022. Frankford High also conducts basic aviation classes starting in the sophomore year as part of larger STEM education.

With this experience and the start of a second class in 2023, Cooper decided to convert his business into a non-profit entity that would make its primary focus young people identified by the school district. The Tailwinds Academy, now fully formed with an experienced Board of Directors and filings with the IRS for 501(c)3 status, plans to expand its outreach to other local schools and work with them to develop these students’ interest and participation in aviation programs.