At 2 years old, David Lanum sat in his driveway, looked up at the sky, and pointed. “Plane, mama. Plane.”

By 16, he was flying one solo. By 25, he was in the cockpit of a Delta Air Lines aircraft.

David’s story is exactly the kind Walker’s Winners was built to tell – a young person who set a stretch goal early, stayed focused, and got there one step at a time. In Episode 3 of the Goal Getters Podcast, Executive Director Katrina Walker sat down with David to trace his journey from a kid in the Atlanta suburbs to a Delta Pilot.

A Family That Listened

David didn’t choose aviation. Aviation chose him before he could explain why. His parents paid attention. When he was 4, they redecorated his bedroom with airplane stickers and clouds. Family members gifted him model planes. The interest wasn’t pushed on him – it was met.

“It was something I didn’t really know anything about, but I stayed interested in it. It always fascinated me.”

At 13, his mother found a flight school on Facebook and drove him to Brownfield Airport near Six Flags in Atlanta for a Discovery Flight – a short introductory ride in a two-seater. They let him take the controls for a few minutes at altitude.

“I was like, this is the coolest thing I’ve ever done. I can see myself doing this.”

The Program That Kept the Dream Alive

Shortly after, David joined ACE – Aviation Career Enrichment – based out of Charlie Brown Airport in Atlanta. ACE was founded in 1980 by Julius Alexander, a man who faced racial discrimination in the 1960s when he tried to become a commercial pilot. He never got the opportunity to fly for a major airline. Instead of walking away bitter, he started teaching kids to fly.

“Until the time he stopped, he trained over 200 pilots through their solos,” David explained. “Now there are hundreds of pilots who he trained or taught who are FOs [First Officers]  and captains at Delta, United, American – even in the military.”

Julius Alexander didn’t get to live his dream the way he deserved. But because he chose to invest in others, hundreds of people got to live theirs.

ACE met on Saturdays – ground school in the morning, a flight lesson in the afternoon – which worked perfectly alongside David’s football and baseball schedule during the week.

What Commitment Actually Looks Like

David played wide receiver. Friday night games ended around 9:30 or 10 PM. He had to leave for ACE by 8 AM Saturday morning.

“There were days where I felt like I just couldn’t get up and go. But I never let that continue. If I didn’t go one weekend, I made sure I was there the next.”

He carried that full schedule all four years – academics, two sports, and flight training – while also reading aviation books at home and running a flight simulator on his computer. Was he tempted to pursue football or baseball professionally?

“It wasn’t my passion. I knew flying was what I wanted to do. I wanted that high school experience – but in college, I wanted to go and fly.”

At 16, David attended an ACE camp built around solo flights. Each student was sent up alone – a full pattern flight around the airport, by themselves, start to finish.

“Once they shut the door and you start the engine, you’re like – okay, I gotta do this now. Everybody’s watching.”

He did it. A 16-year-old, taking off and landing alone – because the training and the consistency of showing up had prepared him for exactly that moment.

The Mentor Who Made the Path Visible

David’s primary mentor, Brandon, came into his life at 14 through an ACE camp co-sponsored by Delta. Brandon was a young regional airline pilot at the time – just a few years ahead of where David wanted to be. For a kid with no pilots in his family, that proximity made the goal feel real.

“I was always asking him questions. He could see that this kid really wants to do this. That’s what kept the relationship alive.”

Brandon helped David and his family navigate every step – certifications, schools, what the airlines actually looked for. David watched closely, asked constantly, and showed up prepared. Today, Brandon is also a Delta pilot. They still talk.

For any young person looking for a mentor: be genuinely curious, ask real questions, and show up consistently. Mentors invest in people who clearly, authentically want it.

Flight School, and the Hardest Part

David attended Middle Tennessee State University, which offered a full aviation program. He worked through his instrument, commercial, and multi-engine ratings – each phase ending in a high-stakes check ride with an FAA examiner. The academic work was hard. But it wasn’t the hardest part.

“I’m kind of a perfectionist. If I mess something up, I beat myself up over it. It was more about convincing myself – I can do this. I felt like if I didn’t do perfectly on everything, I wasn’t going to make it. And it was all in my head.”

What got him through was learning to take one day at a time. Focus on the next flight. Trust the preparation.

“With each step, you become more and more confident. Your end goal gets that much closer, and you’re like – I’m doing this thing.”

After completing his ratings, David became a certified flight instructor. He saw his former self in every student and made the experience intentional – ground lessons at restaurants they liked, pool table reviews for the student who loved to play. Many of those students are now at major airlines. Some fly for Delta.

Getting the Call

After graduating, David joined SkyWest Airlines as a regional pilot – the standard starting point for most commercial pilots. After about three years, he interviewed at Delta, preparing through a mock interview group that ran him through behavioral questions drawn from real SkyWest experiences.

“A lot of what they’re looking for is: what kind of person are you? Is this someone we’d want to fly with for four or five days in a row?”

David got the job. He was the youngest person in the room.

The Point of the Journey

David’s path wasn’t a straight line. It was built from thousands of small decisions across more than a decade – showing up Saturday morning after Friday night games, reading books out of curiosity, playing two sports because he loved them, and learning through all of it how to be a teammate, a student, and a person. None of it felt like career preparation at the time. But all of it was.

“All the experience you have through life, coming together. And now you see yourself living your dream, and it’s like – each step through life meant something.”

His advice for young people still figuring out their direction: “Find something you really enjoy. Once you’re doing something you enjoy, you’ll never work a day in your life.”

And for those who know what they want but feel the weight of how far away it seems: “Just enjoy the journey. Most of the joy is in the journey. Don’t rush it.”

Walker’s Winners is a nonprofit youth development organization co-founded by Katrina M. Walker and Cardinals outfielder Jordan Walker. Learn more at walkerswinners.org.