Congratulations to Niall Devlin, EAA 1200720 and recipient of the Richard R. Harper Memorial Scholarship, who earned his private pilot certificate on December 23, 2020.
“It’s one of the biggest things I’ve done in my life really, it was a great experience and now I can fly whenever I want,” Niall said reflecting back on his checkride.
Niall was born in 2003 in Washougal, Washington, where his mom and dad owned an airplane repair and design business at a small airport. His father, Scott, was a pilot and airplane mechanic who died when Niall was just 6 months old in a mid-air collision with a pilot flying at an improper altitude.
Niall’s uncle and a cousin are also pilots, and his father’s grandfather was in the Flying Tigers during World War II. He still keeps his official footlocker with the emblem on it at the foot of his bed, with his father’s Civil Air Patrol uniform and flight log in it. After graduating high school at the New Mexico Military Institute, Niall went on to attend Brigham Young University in Idaho where he hopes to become a mechanical or software engineer and CFI.
Niall has always loved flight, and being in the air. His walls have always had posters of airplanes on them since he could barely walk, and also pictures of his father and his planes. His dream and goal has always been to fly and become a pilot, and he has taken every opportunity to get involved with aviation and flight: Civil Air Patrol, EAA, AOPA, Young Eagles, and flight and soaring lessons as he could afford them.
Have you reached a milestone recently? Passed a checkride, given your first or hundredth Young Eagles flight, flown your homebuilt for the first time? Tell us about it at eaa.org/submissions.