Kern Magazine's April Spotlight Honoree is Cooper the Pilot — licensed private pilot and commercial candidate, wing-walker, Mrs. United States titleholder, COO of Pactex Aviation, founder of the Hangar 22 scholarship program, and eleven-year Kern County resident.
Adopted from South Korea at age four, Cooper's first experience on a plane sparked a lifelong passion for aviation. The road from that first flight to the cockpit was anything but straight — but her story is one of extraordinary determination, community service, and a refusal to let anyone else define what's possible for her.
Building the Runway for the Next Generation
In 2022, Cooper founded Hangar 22, a scholarship program designed to remove the financial and logistical barriers that keep aspiring pilots — especially women — from pursuing aviation. The program awards approximately $20,000 per year in scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $10,000, and Cooper stays personally connected with every recipient long after the award is made.
Kern County Through and Through
Cooper met her husband on the Kern River, has taken hundreds of local kids on their first flights, serves monthly breakfasts for veterans, and advocates for Honor Flight Kern County. She came to Kern County for three years and never left.
Read the full profile — including her wing-walking adventures, her Red Bull Flugtag chicken aircraft, her birth search in South Korea, and her surprise Mrs. United States win — at Kern Magazine.
Originally published in Kern Magazine.
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