Seventeen-year-old Finn Rosewell is used to marching to his own beat as a member of the Carmel High School band in Carmel, Indiana. He’s been playing the trumpet since sixth grade, later joining his high school marching band, jazz band and regular concert band, a commitment that requires more than 500 hours of practice every year.

Now, Rosewell is standing out as one of only five finalists in the 2021 Flying Musicians Association (FMA) Solo Scholarship, an achievement that could see him land a $15,000 award to further his helicopter flight training. 

Founded in 2009, FMA is a non-profit organization dedicated to pilots who are also musicians. It hopes to further interest in both flying and music by highlighting the skills common to both pursuits: precision, multi-tasking, listening and fine motor skills. 

As the only finalist pursuing rotary-wing training, Rosewell credits his interest in helicopters to an introductory flight at Mauna Loa Helicopters in Kona, Hawaii, during a vacation two years ago. He told Vertical that’s when he was bitten by the aviation bug.

“My first thought was, ‘Wow, this is a lot!’ I was overwhelmed by the many controls; but by the end of the flight, I was flying it by myself. I was thrilled to be able to do it! Now, every opportunity I get, I try to go flying.”

Last June and July, he participated in The Flying Squirrels, a non-profit aviation club for teens aged 14 to 18. Based at the Glenndale Airport in Kokomo, Indiana, the group introduces young people to flying, letting them take the controls of vintage fixed-wing aircraft and participate in ground school lessons. The program costs only $225 for the summer, just enough to cover the cost of fuel. 

“Every week, I’d go down to Kokomo and fly with different instructors,” said the high school senior. “We’d talk about maps, flight planning and play a virtual game to simulate flight experiences with different planes. It was a good intro to fixed-wing planes.”

But, like most Vertical readers, Rosewell was more interested in helicopters than airplanes. 

He travelled to Broomfield, Colorado, and spent two weeks later in the summer flying with Colorado Heli-Ops. Every day, he’d go to the airfield, perform the pre-flight check on a Robinson R22, and take a one-hour lesson.

Altogether, Rosewell has logged about 16 hours of fixed-wing and helicopter flight instruction, plus about 18 hours of ground school. 

If he is successful in earning the FMA Scholarship, the money will be used to take him through to the solo stage of his private helicopter license. Winners will be announced by FMA on May 1. 

Rosewell hopes to get his business degree at college – and then one day, he said, it might be possible to combine business and aviation. In the meantime, he’s just happy to be named as an FMA Solo Scholarship finalist. 

“There were lots of great people trying to get that scholarship and I feel really glad to be one of the five people to make the final cut.”