Heroes of United Flight 93
20-Year Remembrance Gala

Heather "Lucky" Penney

United States Air Force Pilot and Senior Resident Fellow for the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies at the Air Force Association

Most widely recognized for her service on September 11, Heather “Lucky” Penney was part of the first wave of women who went directly into fighters from pilot training. Born on an Air Force base in Arizona, Heather Penney grew up around the military. Her father, retired Lt. Col. John Penney, flew jets, too. From age 4, she told her mother she wanted to be a fighter pilot, along with a ballerina, a butterfly, and a volcanologist. She fell in love, too, with jets and the camaraderie of the Air Force community.It wasn't until she got to Purdue University as an undergraduate in 1992 that she discovered women weren't allowed to be fighter pilots.

While she was still in college, Congress opened up combat aviation to women. In graduate school, she applied and got in. She was the only woman in her class.Her squadron gave her the name "Lucky" when she first arrived, as in "lucky Penney" She loved flying jets, riding at 500 knots, 30,000 feet up, totally focused on the task.

She was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and 2006, and then took a job at Lockheed Martin, the global security and aerospace company. She became a traditional reservist, which allowed Penney, then a divorced single mother, more time to raise her daughters, now 12 and 14. (She has since remarried.). Penney still flies for enjoyment and has her vintage planes, a Cessna 170 A and a Stearman PT13.

Captain Denney Flanagan

United Airlines Pilot and Extraordinary Customer Service Ambassador
Our Master of Ceremonies!

Captain Denny Flanagan retired from the United States Navy and United Airlines after a successful and fulfilling 45 year flying career. As a Naval Aviator he spent three years with the National Science Foundation in support of Operation Deep Freeze on the Antarctic continent. He flew ski-equipped Lockheed C-130 Hercules and provided logistics for scientific experiments. He also flew the Lockheed P-3 Orion whose mission was to maintain surveillance of the Russian submarine fleet, search and rescue of ships in distress in the Atlantic Ocean and locate drug runners in the Gulf of Mexico. While at United, he rose to be Captain of the Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft. He would often go out of his way to ensure the flying public received the best possible service. It was not uncommon to see him pushing a wheel chair, speaking with customers or purchasing meals during long delays. His personal attention to his customers has landed him on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and on the morning shows of ABC, NBC and CBS.

Captain Jason Dahl Scholarship Fund

dahlfund.org

Founded in 2002 by Sandy Dahl, the Captain Jason Dahl Scholarship Fund is a charitable 501(c)3 that has awarded over $450,000 in college scholarships to aspiring aviators. It originally awarded two scholarships per year to students at Metropolitan State University of Denver and San Jose State University (Captain Dahl's Alma Mater). In 2011, the Scholarship Fund was opened up to students in any accredited 4-year program, and it has now awarded 215 scholarships. Last year, $44,000 in scholarships were awarded to 19 aviation students at 11 different colleges and universities.

The Dahl Fund is made strong by a legion of dedicated unpaid sponsors and volunteers, who make it possible to allocate nearly 100% of donations directly to scholarships. We seek to become the premier aviation scholarship in the country.

The Dahl Fund also sponsors an annual primary school program called "Heartland Heroes", which is a valuable learning tool for 5th graders, who learn about the heroics of Captain Jason Dahl and participate in an essay competition about heroes in their own lives. Currently sixteen Ken-Caryl area elementary schools participate every year.

The LeRoy W. Homer Foundation

leroywhomerjr.org

The LeRoy W. Homer Foundation was also founded in 2002 with the purpose of encouraging young adults aspiring to become professional pilots and increase awareness in the field of aviation. They have awarded 25 scholarships to students in aviation-related programs, all of whom now have a professional pilot's license.