Mumen Alzubi ’12
TAKES OFF BY JOHANNA LEE ’13
F
or as long as he can remember, Mumen Alzubi ’12 has wanted to fly. The high cost for lessons — around $200 per hour — as well as having protective parents who were “very afraid of even elevators” kept him from pursuing his passion until a paid internship at General Electric afforded him the chance to take a training flight at a nearby gliding association. He decided not to tell his parents to prevent them from worrying. “After my first training flight, I was hooked and addicted,” he says. “I spent all my weekends at the airfield, from 7 am to 8 pm.” Alzubi completed his glider training and solo flight in near-record time, 88
BEYOND KING’S
building up the necessary experience over two months of flying on the weekends while working full time. On his first solo flight, he took a video of himself flying the glider alone and sent it to his parents. “I got a very angry phone call from my mom!” he laughs. While his parents were worried about his hobby at first, they’ve come to be Alzubi’s biggest supporters. After graduating from King’s in 2012, Alzubi enrolled in a dual degree engineering program between Skidmore College, where he studied physics, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where he studied industrial and management engineering. RPI awarded Alzubi a scholarship to continue his studies
with a Master of Engineering in Systems Engineering and Technology Management. Throughout his studies, Alzubi’s aeronautical aspirations were temporarily put aside. “When you’re in high school, the only thing you can really think about is getting into a good college,” he says. “Then when you’re in college the only thing you can think about is maybe getting into a good grad school or getting a good job. Then you get that good job, and you’re like, ‘What’s next?’” For Alzubi, flying was the clear answer. Not long after his first solo flight, he took the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) flight exam to become
a
certified
glider
pilot,
allowing him to bring passengers to the skies. He was also nominated by his local flying club for a flight instructor certification scholarship, which he won and is currently completing. He hopes to one day offer pro bono flight instruction to young aspiring fliers. But civil aviation globally is facing a lack of interested youth. “Most of aviation is dominated by older men,” says Alzubi. “I’m the youngest licensed pilot at the airport I fly at — I fly with guys who are 75, 78 years old. So my close friends, the people I spend all my free time with, are older than my grandparents.” Alzubi’s preferred method of flight is by glider, which is a lightweight, fiberglass airplane without an engine. Like birds, gliders navigate the skies via thermal lift: rising columns of warm air and sinking columns of cool air.
After my first training flight, I was hooked and addicted. I spent all my weekends at the airfield, from 7 am to 8 pm.
“Gliding isn’t like flying a power airplane, where you have an engine, you have your fuel, you go and come as you please,” he says. “I call that driving a bus in comparison with gliding, because gliding really requires a lot of attention and planning.” Despite being such an important part of his life, for Alzubi flying is currently a pastime rather than career. “This is all just a hobby,” he says. “I still work 8 to 5, Monday through Friday just like everyone else.” Ultimately, Alzubi hopes for a career in aviation design and manufacturing, specifically as a technical engineer for precision manufacturing and tool design. However, he remains open to changing winds and possibilities. While Alzubi isn’t sure where exactly his future will take him, he knows there is only one direction: up. SPRING 2020
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