Capt. Sax Aviation Scholarship Recipient: Virginia “Jennie” Mitchell

As our board deliberates on our next round of scholarship recipients, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate one of our Capt. Sax Round 2 scholarship recipients – Virginia “Jennie” Mitchell.

Originally from Kennesaw, GA, Jennie attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering. She then moved to Patuxent River, MD, where she worked for the Department of the Navy at Patuxent River Naval Air Station as a Flight Test Engineer for 10 years. While there, she attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School as a Flight Test Engineer in the Rotary Wing Curriculum, graduating in 2010 as part of Class 138. During her time at Pax River, she primarily focused on the MV-22 Osprey, with ship suitability flight testing being a highlight of her work on that challenging program.

In 2016, Jennie moved back to Georgia to be closer to family. She initially worked at Delta Airlines as a Senior Project Manager across the Delta fleet and later became the Principal Engineer for the Delta T-tail fleet. Following her time at Delta, she joined Lockheed Martin Flight Test, working on the C-130J program. Currently, Jennie is a Senior Flight Test Engineer with the FAA, collaborating with companies such as Gulfstream, Piper, and Lockheed on various aircraft certification programs. She is also pursuing her Master’s degree in Flight Test Engineering at the National Test Pilot School in Mojave, CA.

Jennie is married to her husband, Jesse, a Mechanical Engineer. They have two children and currently reside in Acworth, GA, where they enjoy spending time with their extended family and friends.

On behalf of the Capt. Sax Foundation board, we want to thank Jennie for her application and for allowing John’s legacy to continue to be written through her own story.

“𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘞𝘦 𝘋𝘰, 𝘞𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘪𝘮”

𝐒𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐢 & 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐭