JOIN OUR SPONSORS

If interested in joining our list of sponsors, please contact Flack Maguire, Executive Director, (760) 473-4157 or flack.maguire@vfa-team.org.

For information on our current sponsors, please see their respective links

 The Premier Fellowship for Military Aviators - Daedalians 

Contact – Cannon Field 53T 

Atascosa County Post 436 - The American Legion Department of Texas 

www.runwayrenegade.com 

WHAT IS IT? 
The Virtual Flight Academy in conjunction with the APAM Alliance is building High School Flight Simulation competition teams across the nation.  Beggining in Atascosa County, Tx, this initiative seeks to work with kids in grades 9 – 12 at three school districts south of San Antonio over a 16-week period and train them in the basics of Air Force flight using commercial off the shelf flight simulators.  This is an afterschool activity modeled on the framework of High School sports teams whereby kids must “Pass to play” and will practice twice a week for two hours per session with volunteer pilots from the local area and virtually with volunteer pilots from across the nation.  The culmination event will be the T-6 VMax Championship hosted by the 559 FTS at Randolph AFB.  Competitors will complete a written Bold Face/Ops Limits test and then fly a basic mission profile graded against the same standard used by the USAF in Undergraduate Pilot Training. Points will be awarded for each maneuver that meets the USAF Course Training Standard and scores will be combined into an overall team score.  The team with the highest point total wins the event and will be crowned the T-6 VMax Champion.  We are working towards gaining Professional Pilot, scholarship opportunities for each member of the winning four-person team and an individual "High Point" award will be granted to the competitor scoring highest overall. 

WHERE & WHEN 
Randolph AFB / 4 Mar 2026 

WHO WILL PARTICIPATE
For the 2026 season, competition will be limited to young men and women in grades 9 – 12 from Pleasanton, Poteet and Jourdanton High Schools.  This year we are working to help build additional teams who will shadow the program in preparation for the 2027 compoetition season.  If you are interested in building a team, please contact the T-6 VMax Program Director, Ken Knox at 520-488-1995 or kenaknox1060@gmail.com.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
With a global demand for pilots exceeding global supply for at least the next ten years, this program seeks to attract and retain youth interest in aviation careers.  Since most of the kids we will work with don't have the money to invest in pilot training this program seeks to help remove barriers from getting into aviation careers ultimately becoming better citizens of their country and role models to future students.

HOW YOU CAN HELP...
As this program is a new initiative with limited funding and support, we ask that your audience consider the future potential to grow participation across the San Antonio area, the state of Texas and ultimately make this a national initiative in the out years.  In the near term, soliciting this program to potential volunteers with aviation experience will help us to connect mentors with high school competitors and bridge the gap between career dreams and career realities.  Sponsorship of a team or involvement with supporting this competition would be greatly appreciated as each of the participating schools have made a significant out of pocket investment to acquire these simulators.  Access to free training resources would be greatly appreciated. 

T-6 VMax Program Director:  Ken "Wolverine" Knox, (520) 488 - 1995 or kenaknox1060@gmail.com

For further information, please email support@vmax-championships.org