Lasting Legacies

First in the family

Sims family wearing airline uniforms in front of Auburn airplanes

Tyler Sims ’24 becomes first pilot in long line of aviation professionals

Charlotte Tuggle

P

rofessional flight alumnus Tyler Sims ’24 knew more about the aviation industry by age 13 than most people will ever learn in a lifetime. He’s the first pilot in his family, but he’ll never fly solo because of all the people who have lifted him up along the way.

Sims was raised near the Hartsfield-Jackson International Atlanta Airport by several family members in the aviation industry. His mother, Tracy Sims, works as a gate agent for Delta Air Lines. One of his aunts, Dianne Robinson, retired from Delta as a gate agent several years ago, and the other, Debra Brooks, is a flight attendant for United Airlines. His uncle Trevor Wood was a longtime mechanic for American Airlines, and his uncle Harvey Robinson was a gate agent at Eastern Airlines.

Sims said the world travels and stories from the maintenance hangar to the passenger cabin primed him to pursue his own path – becoming the first pilot in the family.

“My desire to be a pilot stems from my family, them working in the aviation industry for most of their lives and having the opportunity to travel with them,” Sims said. “We also lived under Atlanta’s airspace, being the busiest airport in the world. So, watching planes outside, it always was a great interest to me to really learn and find out more information about planes.”

Tyler wearing graduation cap standing with family by Auburn plane

From left: Harvey Robinson, Dianne Robinson, Debra Brooks, Trevor Wood, Tracy Sims and Tyler Sims.

When Sims was 12 years old, he began participating in the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals (OBAP) summer camps through a Delta Air Lines scholarship. Each year, OBAP takes dozens of children on “discovery flights” – plane rides monitored by a flight instructor.

After three years observing, Sims was accepted into OBAP’s Aerospace Career Education (ACE) Academy at 16, and said he never looked back.

“When I got to take my first flight, I actually got to control and fly the plane for myself and actually see downtown Atlanta from where we were flying out of,” Sims said. “That’s really what caught my spark and basically pushed me into being a pilot.”

During a camp in high school, Sims learned about the School of Aviation’s partnership with Delta Air Lines.

Tyler with aunt and mother in the flight simulator.

The Delta Propel Pilot Career Path Program develops pilots through mentorship, professional opportunities and a defined, accelerated path to the flight deck. At the time, Delta was among the first of many who would scout Auburn aviators, and the Delta Air Lines Aviation Education Building was underway.

Sims chose Auburn because of those opportunities, the SEC atmosphere and an informational meeting with a Delta executive, Paul Jacobson, who graduated from Auburn and only had great things to say about the professional flight program.

Once he got to Auburn, Sims started studying to become a professional pilot and found time to give back along the way by joining the organization that took him on his first flight.

“I knew I wanted to give back and be involved in OBAP just from how much was given to me, and really just got my aviation career started,” Sims said. “I tried to get to know all the different students in our OBAP group because, coming in, being a Black minority at Auburn and the aviation program, there really wasn’t a greater sense of community outside of OBAP. It’s not just about aviation, it’s really just having your group and people that understand the different struggles and experiences you’re going through as a student.”

Sims recently earned his commercial license and flight instructor certification. He’ll flight instruct at the Auburn University Regional Airport while gaining flight hours, then join a small regional carrier before moving up to a larger airline.

Tyler Sims thanks United Airlines Captain Jason Mohrman ’97, American Airlines Captain Mike Forte ’82 and Delta Air Lines Captain Jerome Wellons ’07 for their generosity and mentorship, which played a great role in his professional development.

One day, he hopes to take off from a gate where his mother is working and share a plane with his flight attendant aunt. Until then, Sims said his family motivates him to keep pressing forward, even when times get tough.

“It’s been basically 20 years of them feeding into me all this aviation knowledge and I’m trying to give back into them what they probably didn’t think it was possible in themselves,” Sims said. “My aunt actually told me that there was a point she wanted to be a pilot, but 40 years ago, there weren’t many avenues or possibilities for her to even see a career in that. All that they poured into me, being able to give that back to them, that there’s now a pilot in our family is probably the greatest thing.”

Find your family in the Auburn School of Aviation.

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