Brooks Dickerson, 22, is a senior at Metropolitan State University, Denver. He’s also a member of the MSU Denver Aerobatic Flight Team. When he’s not busy with school he flies for Mile-Hi Skydiving in Longmont, CO. Flying jumpers is “super unusual” and “never boring,” said Dickerson. His previous job was towing advertising banners around Denver. He initially thought Mile-Hi would be similar, but his experience has been just the opposite. “It’s always exciting; the twin otter can fit 23 in the back, pretty close to max gross. But once the jumpers exit, it’s empty. It’s a completely different airplane from the climb to the descent,” Dickerson added.

He was introduced to aviation through his dad, a corporate pilot “back in the day” who formerly owned a Cessna 182 that they used to fly together. Dickerson began flying gliders when he was 14 years old and obtained his private pilot’s license during high school.

He recently participated in a holiday airlift for veteran families, an annual charity drive that is organized by the Colorado Aviation Business Association (CABA) and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) holiday airlift. Brooks flew 1,900 lbs of non-perishable food and toys to families in three towns across the state; demonstrating that “fly over 118,000 hours a year on charitable and medical missions.”

Last updated April 28, 2020